Questions for our British friends

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

Surely not every Major can become Lt. Colonel let alone Full Colonel ?
BTW,How come Taragon Eggplant's uniform in Kingsman 2 was so much fancier than Harry's yesterday?

Most that are worth having do! A lot of the technical blokes do not, but most of them would move into boffin jobs anyway, the other thing is Royal Marines officers, their Corps is so small that it is dead mans shoes, so not so many make it.

Tarragon Eggplant appears to be in the full dress uniform off a General, Harry, who is not a Hollywood super star is a mere captain in the Blues and Royals and wore the frock coat of the Regiment.

[73north]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

Most that are worth having do! A lot of the technical blokes do not, but most of them would move into boffin jobs anyway, the other thing is Royal Marines officers, their Corps is so small that it is dead mans shoes, so not so many make it.

Tarragon Eggplant appears to be in the full dress uniform off a General, Harry, who is not a Hollywood super star is a mere captain in the Blues and Royals and wore the frock coat of the Regiment.

Sincerely . Thank you for your service .

I never got into the Army ( I tried to get in as an Officer at a Jedburgh
Recruiting Office (now closed ) and got taken apart by a bastard Officer
in a terrible interview ( he had a Labrador under the Desk )
as my grades were supposedly not good enough , and above all -
and this is totally true - what he said to me ..
I was not suitable as I had
led a sheltered life and never did drink or drugs !!

I left in a daze , to this day , but I am glad in a lot of ways I was not accepted - but not nice at the time - to be rejected outright

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by 73north

Sincerely . Thank you for your service .

I never got into the Army ( I tried to get in as an Officer at a Jedburgh
Recruiting Office (now closed ) and got taken apart by a bastard Officer
in a terrible interview ( he had a Labrador under the Desk )
as my grades were supposedly not good enough , and above all -
and this is totally true - what he said to me ..
I was not suitable as I had
led a sheltered life and never did drink or drugs !!

I left in a daze , to this day , but I am glad in a lot of ways I was not accepted - but not nice at the time - to be rejected outright

Well if you recall his name, I am sure that a few of the wee borderers would take delight in paying him a visit!

BERK! I fucking hate so called officers like him! I used to tell my young officers, 'shut up listen and learn from your senior NCO,s they have more years service than you have years on the planet!' I have never heard such a load of rubbish! Yes we all have a drink on occasion, but we also have these little men with glass bottles who turn up at the worst times and insist on us peeing in these jars, they then go and do some alchemy and find out if you have had any drugs in the last two million years! I exaggerate, but random drugs testing is in use through out the armed forces the man is a moron!

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

worked their way up through the Non Commissioned ranks!

How often do British officers rise from the ranks?

I know one US Army officer who did (a "mustang") -- and he was always at pains to explain that although he was an officer, he didn't much like them.

[rupertramjet]

Well I know two on here that did! Well err one is a colonial!

Commissions from the ranks are quite common, especially from Warrant Rank, they normally get commissioned as Captains. I quote the answer in Hansard to a questuion from several Mpa on the subject:

Soldier Commissions The Army commissions soldiers from the ranks, selecting those judged to have sufficient leadership potential, to attend the standard commissioning course. Both direct entry (DE) and soldier commission candidates are assessed and then selected at the Army Officer Selection Board, Westbury thereby assuring a level method of selection and quality.

Late Entry Commissions For those who are not selected for a direct entry commission from the ranks, then after nine years service (from age 21), and having attained the rank of sergeant, all soldiers are eligible to apply for a late entry (LE) commission up to 44 years of age (waivers can be applied for older applicants).
Direct Entry/Late Entry Balanc e
Over the last decade, the Army has adjusted its balance from 25 per cent. LE/75 per cent. DE to 33 per cent. LE/67 per cent. DE as greater demand for LE officers has emerged. LE officers do have differing terms of service from DE officers, principally to accelerate their promotion given their average commissioning age of 40. They are widely employed and compete up to the rank of Lt Col with DE officers for appointments.

Whilst they will not have the level of academic qualification their fellow cadets will have, they are at an advantage because of their military training, they go to Sandhurst knowing the standards expected of them. They are also given the opportunity of furthering their academic standards, with the qualified teachers who belong to the Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps.

They are also helped to do an Open University course, or can, in some cases, gain a full university course, there are restrictions here, like staying in the Army for a period afterwards! The biggest single problem they are faced with is the age ceiling, most officers ongoing training and course, including staff college, are completed in the years they will be either serving as other ranks, or junior officers, so unless they both joined, and gained a commission at a young age they will be hampered by this. General Peter de la Billiere joined as an ordinary private, but for a very short time for example.

The three other services also offer the same scheme, a female friend of mine has been commissioned from the ranks in the Royal Navy and she is now a Lt Commander, and I am bloody proud of her too! She deserves it!I would say that currently about fifteen per cent of the armies officers are ex rankers.

[Roubignol]

Are all the British aristocrats still very rich and do they still get a lot of privileges?

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by xyzde69

Are all the British aristocrats still very rich?

No many are quite the opposite, because of death duties, and many other factors, a very few have wealth still, but usually those who have huge property holdings or are connected to large corporations and financial institutions.

The Blair administration took away the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords, so they now have no power either! He replaced them with a lot of his cronies, ironically one of them 'Lord' Adonnis, (a man who has a name guaranteed to disappoint, according to one of his ex civil servants I knew well!) Went to Oxford as a result of exactly the same scheme for kids in care that I was on, he as Secretary of Education, did away with the scheme that gave him everything! A lot of Blairs ministers were members of his appointed Lords!

[vinceprince]

They have huge amount of wealth due to ownership of property and land.
They can avoid most taxes by using holding companies and off-shore tax havens.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/soc...lways-win.html

Even those that do absolutely fuck all with their land get a massive income thanks to
EU farm subsidies - the more you own the more you get.

One Toff I used to play cricket against used to own half of Romney Marsh just declared it as a 'bird sanctuary' in order to rake in a fortune in 'farm' payments.

[bjcb0]

They have huge amount of wealth due to ownership of property and land.
They can avoid most taxes by using holding companies and off-shore tax havens.

Some certainly do, but only the richest ones, I would say. Many lost lots of money in the 1960s and 1970s -- a combination of taxes designed to redistribute money and low property values.

One Toff I used to play cricket against used to own half of Romney Marsh just declared it as a 'bird sanctuary' in order to rake in a fortune in 'farm' payments.

If this is one of the Paine family, then they sold Dungeness Estate to EDF in 2015 (I think). Their family trust had owned the Estate since 1964, but they were a funny collection of individuals: some were certainly wealthy, although asset rich rather than cash rich, and others were much poorer. [My family has links to Romney Marsh, although we've never owned much of it!]

[Helenic]

Originally Posted by trailmaster

Today is "Mother's Day" in America. Not really a holiday, but a day to celebrate our Mother's. Does the U.K. have a similar day to celebrate mothers?

Yes. As with so much, we have our own Mothering Sunday and it is older than the USA is. Originally it was a religous festival and had nothing to do with mothers at all (you returned to your mother church). Then it faded into something where mothers were given gifts. The US version was adopted in 1914, but the woman who had campaigned for it later tried to get it withdrawn altogether because of the comercialisation of it.