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Crisis as SAS men quit for lucrative Iraq jobs
The number of SAS troopers leaving for lucrative jobs in the security industry has prompted the regiment to write to all soldiers urging them to stay. A letter from the regiment's headquarters has told all the SAS's 300 front-line soldiers that "it would be in everyone's best interests" if they remained in service. An estimated 120 former Special Air Service and Special Boat Service troops have left, swapping a junior NCO's wage of about £2,000 a month for as much as £14,000 a month working as security co-ordinators in Iraq or Afghanistan. The letter is said to have told soldiers to consider their loyalty to the regiment and the kudos of being in the SAS."This has always been an issue," an SAS soldier said yesterday. "It is not the young ones that they are worried about but the senior NCOs who are so important. If they lose middle management they lose all that experience for the future and they are desperate to keep that experience there." One former 22 SAS soldier now working in security estimated that 120 former Special Forces men are working for security firms in Iraq. Some are earning £450 a day, or £14,000 a month, working for firms such as Kroll, Controlled Risks and Armour Security. The former soldier, who had just one week off in his last two years in the SAS, said: "They cannot stop people from leaving. The SAS lifestyle is extremely demanding and not really conducive to family life or long-term relationships. On the security circuit you have the potential to earn very high wages combined with an attractive working rotation, invariably one month on, one month off." While wages, pensions and life insurance have been addressed in recent years, the SAS still has substantial commitments around the world. Workload cannot be addressed, said the former soldier, "because the men are deployed all over the place". The two SAS Territorial Army regiments are also experiencing manning problems and weekend training has been threatened due to lack of numbers. Some TA have been granted permission for up to a year's leave of absence but others have left for the private sector. The United States Defence Department has offered its most experienced special forces a bonus of $150,000 (£80,000) to sign on for six years to stem an exodus to security jobs, it was announced last week. The British Government spent the equivalent of the annual salaries of 130 SAS junior NCOs on new comfortable chairs for MoD desk jockeys last year. And the MoD, ordered to save money by the Government (to fund more important projects such as its £9.6bn dismal failure anti-obesity campaign), managed to save a mighty £2.5m of an initially projected £90m from the multi-billion pound Eurofighter project by installing a gun which won't fire. Did they think the boots on the ground wouldn't notice? Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-14 |
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