DC-Please be careful about old 'facts' and new ones. You are wrong in your assumption about 'free rent, coal, elec' etc-that is an assumption often quoted but is factually innaccurate. It may have been the case of old, in some locations throughout the world on an irregular basis-but it is certainly not the case now-people in often appauling Service accomodation even pay council tax, you may be surprised to hear. Serviceman on the whole pay a 'market rate' rent and all their own bills nowadays-indeed it is actually quite expensive given the often frequency of enforced family moves. You therefore need to enlighten yourself of facts rather than hearsay.
As to your other point about 'knocking' others within another public Service I agree with you. One of the myriad of reasons I left the Service after almost 24 years was the demoralisation of all public services, and especially those on the RAF. Not helped by the in fighting for money between those services, it is an easy get out clause to blame individuals and their Ts & Cs for the lack of strategic, thoughtful and targeted investment and management. An easy example is one of extracting a half col and his guys from a nasty place, when a 'programmed delay' of repatriation annoyed him considerably. Suffering from 'small man syndrome', he protested viamently, explaining that he was about to be promoted, 'threatening' to write and complain to the CAS, or even CDS as he was an RAF chap! After being educated about the fact that the airbridge was controlled and planned by a joint team, led by a brigadier he was shocked and shut up.(I would like to believe that he acted with the best of intentions, wanting to get his guys back to blighty in a timely manner-but speaking to another of his senior guys that may be a bit generous!).
The point is, finally(!), that it is often too easy to get irate at the 'coal face' and blame the immediate environment (ie people) involved. Consider the environment that those of our public servants have to work in, including the broken system with which they have to work (all too often overworked and underpayed and with great dedication-as has been demonstrated by those civil Servants that worked for me at one time!). I personnally believe that those working at the pension 'place'(wherever that is!) and Xafinity do a good job, given the scale and resources to complete it.
PS What about the removal allowance(not including expense's-which is on top of that!!!) that civil servants get?-at last count it was worth about 5000 quid per move.(1995 ish)....
