Please excuse my ignorance but I'm trying to figure out how the pay works for an 8&4 or a 6&6 for that matter. That's a hell of a lot of consecutive days of work before you get your leave. Assuming that you actually do get a few days off during the tour,(and I'm sure that's probably pretty bloody obvious, hence the little disclaimer at the beginning of the sentence), then are you paid the daily rate only for each day you are on shift and if so, then how many days should one expect to subtract from , say a 6 week stint, when trying to calculate exact pay?
I'm sure I could have worded that better, without sounding like an idiot but hopefully someone out there can figure out what the hell I'm talking about.