MightyGem, that commercial was the first thing I thought of when I started reading this thread. Unfortunately, as Brits, you go and live in the desert heat for months, getting shot at, and when you come home you are treated like a third class citizen, a warlike embarrassment to this tree-huggy nation, or even a threat.
Incidentally, I was chatting to a cab driver last night. He drives cabs as his second job, being a university IT techy by day. He takes home 50% more than me in a good month, the same as me in a bad month, from his cabby job alone. He was also very proud to tell me that he only declared about 10% for tax purposes.
Sometimes it makes you wonder why you bother.