Posted on 02/24/2009 7:44:53 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner
KEVIN Rudd has been forced to directly intervene in a damaging defence force pay issue involving SAS soldiers who have been made to repay tens of thousands of dollars in special allowances the Defence Department deemed they were not qualified for.
Up to 49 soldiers in the elite Special Air Service regiment (SAS) are being forced to repay as much as $50,000 in some cases, after being told they did not have the formal trade qualifications to continue being paid higher allowances.
One highly qualified SAS signaller has had his pay slashed from $112,800 a year to $66,000 and has been forced to repay the debt to a point where his take-home pay has been zero while he has been on active service in Afghanistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
I didn't realize that Australia's military was so poorly managed and led.
I am assuming that the SAS is British...
Australian
Pah! Can you spell H-A-D-I-T-H-A. At least they aren’t trying to put innocent soldiers in prison. The Australians have supported America strongly in the war on terror, and some of them have died for it. Your ungracious comment is insulting.
And, no, I’m not Australian. Never been there.
Example: I had a squad leader who could not qualify with an M16A1 (he was an infantryman, recall), meanwhile I fired expert every time, promotion points was the only benefit, same with PT scores, the then standard SQT (skill qualification test). Earning specialty awards like the Expert Infantry Badge or Exp Field Medical badge had no incentive, only lots of blisters and sweat while the slugs got promoted along with the rest of us (I was then a young enlisted Infantryman) based on seniority, not performance.
Anyway....
I found it got worse in the officer corps-much more about the source of commission or how well you kissed up to the battalion Cdr etc.
They've been doing some excellent work in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It's a shame that the Australian government is screwing them like this.
Oh, I was OCS and prior enlisted (combat vet with 9 years and SSG (P) in the eighties), completed my BS on AD in a degree completion program-not the best combination to many senior officers in the Engineer Branch.
What the hell are you talking about????? I'm on the SAS side here...the Aussie government is screwing them hard, and you should also check at the earlier article on what's going on in the Aussie submarine force.
Sigh.
Agreed - the Aussie government should do like Microsoft did
and forgive the overages (my gut feel is that an SAS guy is
worth six figures anyway).
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