Only 20 mins of phone calls?

[Chickensalad]

Why is it that all our troops who are deployed get only 20 mins of telephone calls a week to call loved ones yet if you are in one of Her Majesty's establishments you get almost 2 hours per week to call loved ones (and visits). Surely this can't be right when you have soldiers etc fighting for their country and they get a whole 20 mins to talk to loved ones. On the other hand, if you are a bagsnatcher, murderer, rapist etc etc you can have the luxury of calling home every day for your punishment. Something needs to be addressed here and soon.:* :* :*

[airborne_artist]

20 minutes a week sounds a lot better than a handfull of blueys and a few family-grams that we could tx/rx when my Dad was in the Sth Atlantic in 79-81.

The logistics of giving everyone 2 hrs per week would be horrendous in some theatres.

[Chickensalad]

Airborne artist, I am not saying give everyone 2 hours, but a bit more than 20 mins would be more than welcome at this time of year.
I don,t see how logistics come into it when you already have the phones set up in theatre. Most people work all sorts of hours so are calling home at different times of day. There will hardly be soldiers etc standing in a line waiting to call loved ones rather than go carry out their duties. Also if they have time to send an e-bluey, which some do, then you can say a lot more in a 10 min phone call most days. Furthermore we are in the year 2004 so use the technology that is there.

[ZH875]

In the Falklands over Christmas 1999, Cable & Wireless gave everyone a £10 card, Station Commande did the same. (There were no free 20 mins in them days). People were queuing for more than 6 hours to use their free cards, some were using their own cards as well. If evryone was given a free 2 hours, I would still be queuing now.

[rivetjoint]

So they should realise that its that sort of thing that gets us the reputation of being a third world military and put an extra phone in.

[Big Unit Specialist]

I feel lucky since I am sitting here in Baghdad and there is enough bandwidth for us to call for as long as we want - however, it is the US owned system so can cope with all the demand without upsetting operations. That said, I should point out that my own unit said it was all too difficult and we would have to use our own mobile phones!!!!!
Certainly I shall be counselling the officer at home base when I return. On second thoughts perhaps I'll encourage him to come out here and test the water......
Bottom line is that in this day and age there should be nothing preventing almost unlimited access to phones on deployment. 20 mins is a bit thin though.

[BigGrecian]

Furthermore we are in the year 2004 so use the technology that is there.

You forget that the locations we deploy to might as well be in 1904, rather than 2004. That kind of infrastructure just doesn't exist in the majority of places we deploy to.

[rivetjoint]

I thought it was only beyond 60 degrees of the equator where dishes stopped working?

[BEagle]

Does the Islas Malvinas yet have a BroadBenny link to the UK? Or even a mobile Bennyphone system?

Or is the '2 cans and a piece of string' system still the only alternative to Cab£e and Wire£e$$?

[FFP]

Still the same Beags . .. . . . . . .

As for " we don't go where technology is" what a crock. For instance, Basra and FI both have the facilities, I know cos I've used them !!!

The 20 mins works out at less than 3 mins a day.

Course, you could say that LSSA could/would/should supplement the free calls you get . . .. . . .

But if those held at HM pleasure get 2 hour a week, and we get 20 mins, then surely there's something wrong there . . .

[BEagle]

Good job that Speckled Jim is still alive then......

The pitiful state of BennyComms has been an utter disgrace for well over 10 years now. I guess C&W have been laughing all the way to the bank though...

[Tourist]

The "interbenny" comms have been excellent for over a decade Beags. Its just those who want to call uk that have a prob.

[BEagle]

But why? Back in around 1994/5 I showed people that I could call 1312 Flt crewroom from my car whilst sitting in a car park in the UK - so why shouldn't the reverse apply?

Intra-Bennycomms are indeed not bad at all - but trying to call overseas was always fraught with reliability and cost issues!

At a time when our colonial cousins were sending back live colour TV pictures from Pluto, we still weren't able to make basic overseas phone calls from the Malvinas!

[scientia in alto]

There is a significant issue here that should not be lost within all the history of communication standards. If a convicted criminal can use a phone for 2 hours free, why on earth should a member of the Black Watch suffer only 3 mins. There a wider issues of rightly worried families, rather than a scr*te who is sorting out his next caper!

To all those who have moved along in life, living standards have changed and it appears the boys at the sharp end loose out again!:yuk:

SIA

[Cambridge Crash]

Big Unit Specialist - you know that the Sgt in Allowances can't process your claim, because it is his golf afternoon at Cxxxxy Park. Same for comms access! Isn't N@pl£s great!

In Kosovo in 1999, welfare comms were more reliable than service links - where we had to use mobile phones to make otherwise sensitive calls via Yugocom in....Belgrade. In my experience, troops are able to get more than the 20 minutes a week (if they want it) by various means that we shan't expose. Moreover, what what does anyone have to say after the obligatory how are you, (fine) whats the wx like (****ty), and the food (love some bacon)..? Added to the pregnant pause, calls to loved ones are best avoided. Far too disruptive. If there is a welfare emergency, the 'Service will provide...'

Crash

[Lee Jung]

The figures are not exact, but are about ball park:

Funding for feeding service personnel at sea £1.70 pppd
Funding for feeding a convicted felon* £3.70 pppd.

This is due to prison dogs having a budget of £3.65 pdpd.

Easy to see where Pale and Pasty Fatso Brown prioritises us!

Apologies to anyone in Chogy, I did mean a victim of society.

This leads to an interesting recruitment banner:

"The armed forces - it's cheaper than locking you up"

[Dancing Bear]

There is another issue here for those of us who deploy on the crinkly stuff, there are 200 odd people on a Frigate/Destroyer and only 3 lines available, hence we would all be queing until the middle of next week to get on the 'phone if the limit was more than 20 minutes.

As already stated it is a hell of a lot better than it used to be, but then some of us always had the Portishead HF Radio/BT Landline phone patch

"Portishead this Army 1234 requesting phone patch"

And they never charged for the privelege, shame it went really, once heard a BA Captain discussing plans with his girlfriend about what she should wear to such and such a party and "no, there was no way his wife would ever find out", guess she would if his OpSec didn't get any better!!

Ref the food figures, they are a little inaccurrate, man at sea allowance is about £2.30 ish and a locked up lag is set at about £5.25, however the great one which raised a few eyebrows in the RN was the counter-narcotics dog taken to the West Indies last year, daily food allowance £6.42 of Her Majesties finest steak!! Lags getting twice what we did made me smart, dogs getting almost three times the sum juust makes me laugh!

:{

[Reverb]

20 minutes is enough and plenty to keep loved ones informed of your wellbeing. Please just think of the progress that has been made in this era of immediate communication over the last 3 -4 years. Texting works fine as I am sure everyone knows however, this now is every commanders nightmare. Instant communication to the world.:mad:

[insty66]

Wow! Some people have very strange relationships if phoning home is disruptive;)

I find 20 mins is never enough but it is better than squat, and you can always obtain more mins from someone who finds phoning home disruptive:}

As for getting less from those who are "banged up" why are we even suprised any more it long ago became clear to me that politicians don't care about us as we can do them no harm.

Instant communication brings its own problems. March 23/24 Kuwait during OP TELIC is a very good example (hope I got the dates right) and you really need to be careful about it's use.

[StopStart]

Whether or not 20 minutes a week is enough isn't really the issue here. What is at issue is the fact that a prisoner's rights seem to be more highly regarded than do those of a serviceman.

I would frankly be happy to see our allowance remain at 20 mins and that of the cons reduced below that considerably. There we are: money saving initiative. Do I win a free phonecard?

[The Gorilla]

You have something common, be you Service person or Prisoner...

You all have a choice!!

Servicepeople can leave if they don't like the terms of service. The ridiculous and laughable welfare package was one of the reasons I beat a path to the rail industry.

Prisoners also have a choice and a large percentage seem to like it so much that they go back for 2nds!!

:ok:

[CBA_caption]

IN PRISON.....you spend the majority of your time in an 8 x 10 cell;
AT WORK......you spend the majority of your time in an 6 x 8 cubicle.

IN PRISON.....you get three meals a day;
AT WORK......you only get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON....you get time of for good behaviour;
AT WORK.....you get rewarded for good behaviour with more work;

IN PRISON....the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you;
AT WORK.....you carry around a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON....you can watch TV and play games;
AT WORK.....you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON.... you get your own toilet;
AT WORK .....you have to share.

IN PRISON.... they allow your family and friends to visit;
AT WORK.....you can't even speak to your family.

IN PRISON....all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required;
AT WORK.....you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON....you spend most of your life looking through bars from inside wanting to get out;
AT WORK.....you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON....there are wardens who are sadistic;
AT WORK.....they are called managers.

CBA:E

[seven4mankind]

I am currently in said verbally compromised situation.

My problem is that I fell in love with a dynamic, beautiful young doctor before I was deployed.

My question is this...

If anyone has any ideas or advice about how I can possibly win over this young woman in that time scale...phrases to use...lies to tell...medals to imagine...how you did it in similar circumstances... help me. For the love of god. I have only Wet Ones to comfort me

S4M:ok:

[raytofclimb]

At MPA you get a £20 card per week = 20 mins, but it can be used from any GPTN phone down there so no queues. Charlie and Whiskey still has the monopoly and there is no alternative to call out. No Broadband either, this much text takes about 4-5 mins to arrive and burns up your 40min/day internet welfare time quick sharp.

MORE TO THE POINT:

Why when detained at HM pleasure you do not require a TV licence because it is a govt building, when while serving for HM (and living-in) does the same privelage not apply?

Ray

[bad livin']

Dancing Bear - to be fair, 20 mins is minimal, but even on a war canoe, east of suez and with only 3 lines, i can't remember ever having to queue on several FF/DD deployments.

[The Rocket]

"Apparently" there was a system in use at MPA until fairly recently, whereby you could call a certain cornish naval base via the GPTN number, and ask to be put through to "Breathe", A First Telecom price plan, where you pre-payed for calls at 3p a minute. This allowed you to have as long as you liked, so long as you were prepared to pay for it.

This was stopped supposedly due to the volume of calls the base was getting, and because with the recent round of defence cuts, the base was losing one of their operators.

The difference that losing Breathe made to the morale down there was enormous, as most of the people down there didn;t feel that "20 minutes is enough and plenty to keep loved ones informed of your wellbeing" Especially when children/partners were ill/pregnant etc.

Yes, it may be a bit naughty, and there may be issues, however, I find it difficult to believe that it is cheaper, or in anybody apart from C&W's better interests to give everybody in MPA £20 of call credit per week, as opposed to using the GPTN lines that are already installed and allowing them to use their own phone accounts. Surely it must be far cheaper even if it means keeping operators employed at £13k per year?

Rant over

The Rocket.

[BEagle]

Similarly it used to be possible to call someone on dial-a-mate and get them to transfer you to the BT Chargecard no. in the UK....allegedly....then just dial normally.

6 weeks of honesty and repayment out-of-hours use of the FIAW HQ 17.6 kbps dial-up line cost me a bucket of dosh in the Malvinas to keep in touch with the 'significant other'. Couldn't use blueys as she lives in Germany....and the northside links to the Bennycom Internet were invariably congested for 101% of the time.

[Maple 01]

I once paid £60 to have an argument with my then GF when defending BEagle's favourite South American island holiday destination. Value of free phonecards issued in 'care' packages to the Malvinas garison at that time? £00

- Cable and Wireless robbing scum!

Not to mention running up and down a bloody mountain in a force 9 gale in snow to wake up JOPSO to buy yet another card, and the line sounded like HF.......

You youngsters have it easy with your interweb digital thingies......

[Mr C Hinecap]

I got this story from the ARRSE website. I thought it worthy to be linked to from here....

Newspaper Article (http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/28404.html)

Glasgow Council get my vote!

[TheBeeKeeper]

I believe it is completely justifiable to allow prisoners 2 hours of phone calls compared to 20 mins for a serviceman.....

They do have lots of witnesses to intimidate after all :}

TBK