Decompression in Cyprus - various aspects, updates (merged)

[The Bread Guy]

These soldiers are adults, albeit, some may be pretty stupid foolhardy when it comes to their finances.  I have no doubt some of them need help but they would need it regardless of the fact that they went on tour.

Canadian Soldiers have always acted this way.  Most are fairly frugal with their earnings, but some, especially the young single members have always found ways to spend their money.

As for people spending that money, has this newspaper not gone to downtown XXXXX (the nearest town to any military base) on a weekend??

ZACKLY!!!!!!!!!!!

we know that there are tons of people all over our country making the same mistakes (university students and loans anyone?).

Good point - where was the Star to monitor how some university students spent their (then) OSAP grants on stereos and the like?

 

[George Wallace]

I'd also like to point out that what passes as a Five Star hotel in some places, may only be a Three Star here in North America.  One really does not want to stay in many of the Three Star hotels in Europe, and perhaps not some of the Four Stars, as some of them are no better than dumps or Youth Hostels.  The "Rating System" is not universal.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

There is no real point to any of this. It's the Toronto Star. Pseudo journalism masquerading as a legitmate newspaper. :

 

[GAP]

I guess they didn't do this on VE day, or any other rotation whether it's American/Canadian/Australian/etc.....

Came home on my 30 day leave after 13 Months in Viet Nam (I had extended for another 6 months so they gave me the leave, part of the deal).....I stayed pretty much drunk from the time my bud met me at the airport with 2 bottles of Old Crow, to the time I landed back in Quang Tri....a total of 45 days....at the end I was stone cold broke.....but hey....what a trip!!!

and am no worse the wear for it.....hic!

 

[Rifleman62]

I have modified a previous post about another Toronto Star article to read:

Just a cheap shot by the Toronto Star at the service men and woman. Now that would be a headline/story:

                                                  Big newspaper feints interest in soldiers
                                      Story was ruse to sell newspapers and embarrass government

Typical Canadian "journalism" = sensationalism. Repeaters writing anything so they can be printed.

Read the comments to the article. It appears to have backfired. Thoes who commented clearly support the troops.

Additionally, did the repeater visit the location and observe what was going on, or write it from their desk in Toronto??

 

[The Bread Guy]

Additionally, did the repeater reporter visit the location and observe what was going on, or write it from their desk in Toronto??

This from the article suggests the latter (from his desk in Ottawa)....

But military documents obtained by the Star suggest the defence department's preferred method of treating the mental toll of war is taking a personal financial toll on the troops .... the report, which was released through the Access to Information Act ....

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I worked at a downtown hotel briefly as a security guard back in the 80’s. Large numbers of Miners and Loggers came down to party there after getting paid big bucks, within 5 days most had to go back to the bush as they were broke, in debt and in trouble with the cops.

Personally I wouldn’t line a birdcage with the Toronto Star.

 

[Roy Harding]

In the '70s I worked as unskilled labour in oil camps in northern Alberta.  I was surrounded by young guys stuck in the bush for weeks on end, making obscene amounts of money.  When we hit town (whatever town that may have been - MacMurray, Edmonton, Calgary, whatever) - most of us quickly went about divesting ourselves of our new-found wealth.  When we regained consciousness - we'd lick our wounds, shake our heads, swear to never do it again - and head back to camp to earn some more obscene wages.  And the cycle continued.

The problem (if it's a problem) is not a "soldier" problem.  It's a "young man" problem, no matter the young man's occupation, and it's been going on for all of recorded history.

Most (but not all) of the young men eventually mature, become more responsible, and take their turn shaking their heads at the young men coming up behind them.

It's a "non-story" - so naturally the Star ran it.

 

[dapaterson]

1992. Gagetown.  Thursday night.  Two young OCdts from the Rock were due to fly to Chilliwack on Sunday.  Having taken them to the pay office to get two weeks pay in cash, the Sgt looking after them reminded them that they were to stay on base until their flight out (via Toronto to Vancouver).  And not to call Air Canada (at the number he provided) and make changes to their full-fare reservations and leave early, even though no one would be looking in on them again.

Flash forward to Chilliwack, Sunday, early evening.  A stretch limo pulls up to the shacks on base and our two young OCdts stagger out, scrounge the last few dollars they need to pay the fare from Vancouver airport from friends, and begin regaling one and all with their tales of a weekend in Toronto.


"There is nothing new under the sun"

 

[Jarnhamar]

Stupid article.

military officials have recommended slapping a two-drink limit on soldiers for the first night of their decompression to "facilitate learning" in a Day 2 course on transitioning from life at war to life at home....

Not a bad idea. First two days are dry, last three go to town.

 

[helpup]

Ah the mental images of soldiers getting drinks pool side and regalling all ( civi and military) with head rolling blaaaah's quick dip in the water for a pause head shiver and back to the edge for more booze.  The odd guy gets into trouble most just get sloshed.
Personally keeping my head out of said pool side water was importent to me.

 

[Shec]

I suppose soldiers spending their back-pay buying subscriptions to the Toronto Star would be a much less controversial story.  Who is making an issue of this anyway, the paper's marketing and circulation department?

 

[Bird_Gunner45]

This is the most informative news story I've seen since I watched an expose on university going to Mexico on spring break, and get this, drinking..... ALCOHOL! Ignatieff must not have said anything that day, so the newspaper was bare.

 

[dapaterson]

Ignatieff must not have said anything that day, so the newspaper was bare.

And Jack Layton must have been equally silent - and that, in and of itself, is newsworthy.

 

[FormerHorseGuard]

This sort of thing has been going on for years. You  seen in the movies of world war 2 action, the high stakes poker games, the crap games etc, it is not news it is a fact of life.

As for Petawawa and the local car dealers, i was a pay  clerk there on the Plains for a summer tasking. I remember a lot of statement of earnings being done up for the troops to swing car loans. Mostly  young guys who had a  huge a pay cheque every  15 days for the summer then off to class A pay  for the rest of the year. One guy who was in the shacks with me wanted a brand  new 1990 chevy  monte carlo  ss ( i hope I have the model right) and he came to the payoffice  and got his statement of earnings for the car dealer to help him get  a loan. He came back to the shacks with his car the next night,  he said the car dealer lied to the loan person saying his uncle was giving him more cash for a downpayment. The car dealers loved the summer when an extra 2000 militia troops came to town. They knew they  would make sales and repo the car later and sell it again to another soldier .
This has been going for since the first soldier left home and got paid.  Slow news day create a story about the troops having fun.

 

[Gunner98]

"The 2007 federal budget put aside $60 million each year to increase to $285 per month the danger pay that members of the army receive, meaning a soldier serving on a six-month tour would earn about $1,700 in addition to their base salary."

Who is this guy kidding - $1,700 in addition to their base salary- I think he missed a zero once you add in the tax-free satus.  If a soldier were to spend all of his hazard pay and FSP during his decompression, he would be dead from food and drink. The soldier returning from KAF today is unlikely to have his car repossessed because he pays cash for it.

 

[brihard]

I think he means $1700/month, which if I recall would be pretty accurate. Poorly written, of course.

 

[Redeye]

I read this article yesterday about car dealers exploiting military personnel in the US:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/i-love-mark-uniform

The predatory practices these folks are using on some of these people are unbelievable.  I will never forget coming out of the gym in Petawawa one day and watching an RCD trooper who looked to be about 20 hopping into a shiny new Cadillac sedan (I can't remember what their models are called) and wondering how he could possibly afford anything beyond the car payments and insurance for it.

This sort of thing has been going on for years. You  seen in the movies of world war 2 action, the high stakes poker games, the crap games etc, it is not news it is a fact of life.

As for Petawawa and the local car dealers, i was a pay  clerk there on the Plains for a summer tasking. I remember a lot of statement of earnings being done up for the troops to swing car loans. Mostly  young guys who had a  huge a pay cheque every  15 days for the summer then off to class A pay  for the rest of the year. One guy who was in the shacks with me wanted a brand  new 1990 chevy  monte carlo  ss ( i hope I have the model right) and he came to the payoffice  and got his statement of earnings for the car dealer to help him get  a loan. He came back to the shacks with his car the next night,  he said the car dealer lied to the loan person saying his uncle was giving him more cash for a downpayment. The car dealers loved the summer when an extra 2000 militia troops came to town. They knew they  would make sales and repo the car later and sell it again to another soldier .
This has been going for since the first soldier left home and got paid.  Slow news day create a story about the troops having fun.

 

[PMedMoe]

I read this article yesterday about car dealers exploiting military personnel in the US:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/i-love-mark-uniform

The predatory practices these folks are using on some of these people are unbelievable.  I will never forget coming out of the gym in Petawawa one day and watching an RCD trooper who looked to be about 20 hopping into a shiny new Cadillac sedan (I can't remember what their models are called) and wondering how he could possibly afford anything beyond the car payments and insurance for it.

While I agree that the car salesmen may be approving young soldiers for loans they cannot really afford, the young sailor in the article at your link must have been extremely naive. To get in a car with a stranger, to test drive a car you don't want, to give personal info to a car dealer and then to actually sign papers?  Sorry, even at 19, I knew better than that.

Besides, it's not just car dealers.  There are other places that probably prey on these young service men/women as well.

 

[dapaterson]

Besides, it's not just car dealers.  There are other places that probably prey on these young service men/women as well.

How to make a VanDoo (or any male ever posted to Valcartier) blush:

"Remember that time at "L'Entre Nous?"