Little Hawk - 29 May 06 - 01:23 PM


"Other jobs, you can quit. You can walk away. But when you're in the armed forces, you can't just quit. They won't LET you. Accordingly, people desert."

Incorrect, any member of the British Armed Forces can apply for early discharge when ever they wish. It is a process, it does take time. There are a number of novel ways of getting out of the British Armed Forces, standing for election to Parliament is one of them, getting selected for Officer training then deliberately flunking the course is another. In 1973 when the Arabs used the Oil weapon and the 'west' decided that it shouldn't be so dependent upon oil from the Middle East, a directive was sent by Tony Benn, then Minister for Energy to the Ministry of Defence stating clearly that if any qualified diver in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines or Army wished to leave to take up jobs in the North Sea Oil Industry, their applications were to be rushed through and no obstacle was to be put in the way of the applicants.