Quality not quantity 🇬🇧

In the UK the Royal Marines is a branch of the Royal Navy so technically there are three services, Army, Navy and Air Force. The Navy is the oldest and is referred to as the Senior Service.

"16 is borderline a child" And yet, the US lets these children lose behind the steering wheels of two-ton machines called cars. The irony.

I’ve always found it strange that an American can get married, have a baby, join the army, get sent to war, lose a leg and be sent home. Back to their wife and child, but will be unable to drink a beer because they’re not 21. Meanwhile in the UK you can buy your own alcohol at 18. Drink in a restaurant or pub at 16 with a meal. Or drink at home from the age of 5 with parental consent.

British teenagers can join the British military at age 16. But they can't go into combat until they are 18.

Bigger is not always better. As Al Murray said we ruled the whole of India with two blokes and a bike.

In the UK we train our soldiers properly, to react to the sutuation they find themselves in and not to just blindly follow orders.

My dad joined the army aged 14 in 1932, he left in 1947. He learnt surveying which he continued until he retired aged 62; joining the army in those days was a way to learn a trade and also reduced the financial burden for the family, he was one of 5 brothers who all served in, and survived WW2.

There is the legendary story of two military camps next to one another. the American post a sign outside their camp , ' Second to none', The British , just put up the sign reading , NONE

NOTHING stops us Brits from having a brew!!!!

The most important piece of kit on a Challenger tank is the the bv (boiler vessel). You got to pause fighting mid battle to have your cup of tea. Everything else can wait.

In the UK, we're raised with a tough mindset, adapting to life's challenges with a stiff upper lip. Adverse events impact us as they do anyone else, but our approach sets us apart. Unfortunately, the issue lies in the fact that others often fail to grasp the struggles individuals face until it's too far along, and a lot of the time at that point, it's already too late.

Btw "a brew up" refers to stopping in the middle of a fight to make and drink a cup of tea 🙂

In regards to the holiday thing: Most full-time jobs in the UK give 28 days holiday as standard, with some employers giving more holiday entitlement in line with your working hours. Some companies also offer the ability to sell your holidays for extra salary, or purchase more holidays with your salary. The UK is quite generous with time off. You can also get all that on top of maternity/paternity leave etc (Although paternity is only like 2 weeks, maternity is a few months).

Hi pal, in 1971 at the ripe old age of 15yrs and 9 months old I joinded the British Army as a junior soldier . Did not go to my regiment until 1973 which was based in Dortmund West Germany. I left the Army at the age of 21yrs old, best few years of my young life. By the way I served with 36 Heavy Air Defence Regiment Royal Artillery.

Tyler - you probably aren't aware yet that Britain doesn't have a culture of "therapy" like the US. We simply don't have a therapist we run to every time we feel a little stressed. It's just not a thing here.

William Robertson was the first British soldier to rise from rank of private to field marshal.

What I've been told by people I know who serve or have served in the military is, If you want carpet bombing and mass invasion you send Americans, if you want hand to hand fighting and guerrilla type warfare you send the British

13:30 The ranks are wrong there. A 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army is a lower rank than a Lieutenant. Also, this is comparing officer salaries, rather than non-commissioned officers (sergeants/sergeant majors) and other ranks.

1/3 of Americans defence budget is to pay for pensions and veterans services. But people don’t usually associate pensions a veteran service with the annual military budget 😉

Lets just put a few things straight about the UK Army. Joining, Yes you can join straight from schools at 16, with parents permission, but are classed as junior soldiers or apprentices for the technical trades*. The service for these people doesn't start until they are 18 and it is illegal for them to serve outside the UK. * The entrance axam for the technical trades is an IQ test, and for a communications technician you have to be above average IQ this is ~116 or higher. Fitness, That 10½ mins is in Army boots. And the rest of the test includes a lot more exersizes, such as sit-ups, and they also check your recovery rate. Basic training. The UK basic training includes a driving course (UK diving age is 18) and specialist training into your job, such as training to be an Artillery gunner in an AS90, or a tank driver. Pay UK Army pay is supposedly equated to equivalent civilian jobs + 10% to make up for the lack of overtime. Officers and other ranks pay is on two different scales, Officers is defined as annual salary, other ranks is per 7 day week. This hides ther fact that a Sgt technical specialist gets as much as a Captain. Holidays. Holidays are about the same the UK 42 days is 6 seven day weeks, the US Air Force is 6 five working day weeks. (I worked alongside US Air Force for many years) Also if a UK soldier fails to get in their full 42 days it is just lost, The US AF can get re-embersed for days not taken. Pensions. UK pensions are a lot lower. Final Pensionable Pay is the same for all people of the same rank and equates to the lowest paid for that rank in the whole Army. It is not based on your final salary. To overcome this in aprts of the UK Army people are promoted one rank for the minimum period to get that ranks pension. If you retire earlier than 35 years, and most other ranks do, at 22 years served (40 years old if you started at 18) you get 18/35 of 50%. PTSD. The UK rotates units out of dangerous war zones more frequently, usually a maximum of 6 months, than the US Army, I believe one US Army unit did a 14 month tour in Iraq, with only one leave period. Ex Royal Signals and NATO instructor.

I watch videos and see US Army personnel say oh I haven’t seen my Mom in 2 years. I’ve never heard of UK servicemen not being to be able to get home on a regular basis. Years ago a soldier I was at school with was flown home from the Falklands to be with his Dad who was sick.

You should look up the Battle of Bamber Bridge in England if you want a comparison of differences between the Americans and British army.

One of the perks is the extensive free travel and discounted military families only hotels Americans get. There's an American-only vacation spot in a dormant volcano near Naples, Italy. It has a football field, Olympic sized pool, paintball facilities, a 9-hole golf course....

Heard a story once about the Challenger 2 MBT. A foreign employee of a tech firm was trying to integrate upgrades. When looking at wiring diagrams he questioned the existence of a line marked BV. He was told to leave that alone, that's the boiling vessel and is critical for the tank operation. Couldn't say if it's true or not.

My brother joined junior leaders at 16, then onto his regiment a year later. Served 35 years.

The one thing that gets me is the difference between saying Lieutenant. The US say Loo-tenant and the UK say Left-tentant.

Loving the content

My father lied about his age and was 13 when he joined the Army (he was 6ft and it was back in the 1930s), on his 14th birthday he was sailing up the Yangtze River in China.

21:48 This reminded me of a qoute I read from an indian chieftain named Gookiah describing the English after a battle that I thought might be interesting to share. He said: "These English are a strange people, and their General a wonderful man. They came here in the morning, looked at the Pettah walls, walked over it, killed all the garrison, and returned to breakfast! What can withstand them?" Stopping for tea in a battle is something I could genuinely see one of us doing.

A while ago the British and American army took part in drills on American soil,the British army won in every drill.

First, love all your Vids! There brilliant!

The PTSD thing - I think it's the British 'stiff upper lip' we just don't admit to having ptsd

Someone who knows more about this than I do, please correct me if I am wrong. If you join the British army as a private, you can only go as far as Warrant Officer Class 1 (WO1) which despite the name, is NOT an army officer and as such, they do not get a salute. Comissioned officers attend Sandhurst military academy to become army officers. They do not start out as a private. They usually start their career as an officer. Not just anyone can become an officer. They are usually (but not always) from well off families and/or have a university education. Sometimes being an army officer is a family tradition. If the army were a private company, the officers would be the senior management. Sergeants and corporals are the line managers. Privates are the shop floor workers. The British army has always been severely underfunded. They, unlike the U.S army have a recruitment problem. Pay is not great, especially when you consider they are effectively on duty 24 hours a day. They have to put up with being screamed and bellowed at and verbally abused. They are deployed to do all the crap jobs that nobody wants to do. Having said all of that. This is just my opinion. I worked alongside the army at Woolwich as a civilian for 3 1/2 years I I can tell you that soldiers of the British army are some of the very best people I have ever met. They are truly brilliant people.

The school leaving age in England is 16 years not 15 as stated. (except you can officially leave in June if you turn 16 before the end of the summerbreak ~end of Aug) . so 15years 9months to 16yrs 6months. Depending on Birth date. Other parts of the UK are vary very slightly. Until you are 18 you MUST continue with effectively 20 hours a week education, apprenticeship, or vocational training, such as that in the army.

But the USA puts 16 year-olds behind the wheel of a car, which is a weapon (when driven by a 16 year old). Why are you surprised that the UK is prepared to train them in soldiering from 16? They cannot go into combat until they are older, so they get at least 2 years of training. That's why boot camp can be up to 40 weeks long. Not talking about one's problems (outside of immediate family) is a very British thing, and extends to the military. Brits take conflict or adversity with more calmness and stoicism - and sometimes even humour - than most other nationalities, it seems.

We also have cadet training units, for the ATC (Air Training Cadets) and also the Army Cadets, and Navy Cadets

My brother joined up straight out of school at 16, by his 18th birthday he was fighting in the 1st Gulf war.

I once taught an airforce training sergeant. He was asked by visiting American trainers ‘what do you do with your illiterate airmen?’. He replied ‘In the RAF we don’t admit people who are illiterate’; the prospect of planes in the hands of people who can’t read is terrifying.

I joined the Army as Junior Soldier at 15 in 1961 and then at 17 1/2 , in late 1963 I "passed out" and transferred to "the Colours". As junior soldiers, we pretty much had the same training as Regular soldiers plus education in normal academic subjects as well as specific trade training in all manner of things both useful to the army and civilian situations. This usually led to former Junior Leaders getting onto the promotion road faster. We were never sent to war zones or used in any related manner. I have often thought that the rule would go out of the window if the country got invaded though! Training is somewhat different now, the entry age has been raised for one thing.

It's pretty funny that they spend that much and still lose in a battlefield training exercise not that long ago. The Royal Navy Commandos alongside troops from allied countries held a five-day battlefield simulation in which they were victorious over their American counterparts.

I suspect that with the PTSD it's that our mental health services are very stretched in the UK and we don't really have that culture of therapy or diagnosing things like autism or ADHD - or at least we didn't until fairly recently. .We also do still have a bit of the 'stiff upper lip' mentality - many of us today had grandparents or great grandparents who lived through and served in two World Wars, maybe our Dads and Granddads went down mines or out in fishing boats, so there is still something of a macho culture. I think it's very hard for former soldiers. Then to add to that, they can be very institutionalised, as from a young age the army has provided them with the essentials, so they find it hard to cope in civilian life. I've got a great deal of respect for anyone in the services, and I think the fact that they provide a fresh start and a great education is fantastic, but it's sad that it's often the only viable route out of a sink housing scheme. As for 16 being too young? I don't know about that, I think the US is pushing back the age of adulthood further and further, they'll be calling 40 year olds 'kids' soon, and we're following that trend.

In 1965 at the age of 15 I signed up for 9 years in the British Army Junior Leaders, where you finish your 'High School' education and also train to be a Non Commisioned Officer, until you become 17 and a half.

So I’m in the Royal Navy and it stated there’s no “deployment pay”. That’s incorrect. We get LSA (separation allowance) of minimum £7.50 a day, and it goes up in brackets. For instance I’ve spent 600 days away and I get about £15 a day extra which works out to £450 a month extra! This is the same for the Royal Marines, Army and RAF

my great grandad joined the grenadiers as boy soldier in 1892 after south africa he was promoted to colour sergeant ww1 in the north staffs he was promoted to captain quartermaster. won the military cross @ vimy ridge left after 34 years service.

The Monarch is the Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force - hence the 'Royal' part. Check out "What Powers Does the Queen of England Actually Have" by 'Today I Found Out' (the same now applies to the King).

If you're interested in British military culture, try to find a British comedy programme called "Bluestone 42", about a team doing bomb disposal in Afghanistan.

Not that Tyler ever read these comments. The British Army has no "Royal" , due to the to a little tussle called the English Civil War. The Army sided against the king. So no Royal for YOU!!!!!

The British Army is dropping in size to about 73000 personnel. as mentioned on a news report recently. Also the Royal Marines are part of the Royal Navy. as per the RNs website.

If you join at 16 you do the 40 wk basic training, if you join older than that you do 20 wks. This is because, even though you can join at 16, you cannot join your regiment and be deployed until you are 17. Also it used to be that if you joined at 16 you had to sign up for a minimum of 20 years although you can buy yourself out before that point or break enough rules and get court martialed to get out.

I joined at 15 years old, Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion….fantastic!

Don't forget we can leave school at 16 in UK.. If you're able to go and work, you have the choice to join the army. There are lots of boys and girls who join cadets and army groups younger and know what they want to do before the age of 16.

Check out OBI Wan Nairobi,he joined the army at 16 and exemplifies the true meaning of the word Hero.

You don't get to lieutenant if you start as a private. That's the officer path. The NCO path is private -> lance-corporal -> corporal -> sergeant -> staff sergeant.

PTSD rates, it is likely that our troops are better prepared, also British troops are trained to handle many different situations and not just shoot their way out of a problem. Takes longer to train, but makes for a much more skilled, much more resilient individual. We no longer have large armies of expendable troops or as ‘Blackadder’ would put it ‘Cannon Fodder’. Also many of our war and conflict films(movies) are quite realistic, they are not sugar coated, we do not always win. That is an accepted part of our history and our regimental history. Dunkirk, Charge of the Light Brigade, Isandlwana were all major defeats but individual heroism is remembered and honoured. Where I think American culture struggles to acknowledge that maybe sometimes they will lose, so Americans cant cope when confronted with failure.

UK we have Sea & Army Cadets starting age 12. So, they can have preliminary training as a hobby.

This film is old you can only leave school at 16 in uk if you are going to college or do an apprenticeship if not you have to stay at school until your 18 then you either go to university or go to work My grandson went young soldiers college at 16 ( he had got his A levels at 14 so he had the qualifications to go to university) after touring Afghanistan driving tanks at 25 he commissioned from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst 3 years later he is now a Captain so proud of him

Don’t stop spending on your military. If there’s another war, we’ll need you (again) cheers

British teenagers can't leave school until 16, not 15. And now you need to go to some sort of education or training (such as an apprenticeship) until at least 18.

Hi I’m trying to find this family site. Can’t see it anywhere . Does anyone know what it is please ? Xx enjoyed this reaction & want to add the family to my library . Would appreciate it very much x

Just FYI, at 16 you can enlist and go to an Army Foundation College. However, you can’t go and fight in wars until you’re 18. It’s just an easy route into the job

13:42, he's got the army ranks backwards. 2nd lieutentant is the lower rank, lieutenant the higher rank.

I joined the British army (Guards) at 16 years of age back in 1972, the majority of guys who joined with me were 15 years old . Its because the minimum school leaving age was 15 back then, now the school leaving age is 16 so thats the minimum age you can join the army. But you must have your parents consent. Some people may say its far to young usually by people who dont know what they are talking about. In my intake there were some kids from broken homes, orphans ect. It gave young lads alot of discipline & a sense of pride. They made damned outstanding soldiers when they eventually got through the training process. It was not an easy life at all infact it was bloody hard, we had to grow up very quickly ! By the time we came of age ready to join our battalions, regiments we were all *very well trained & very disciplined. I would go as far to say boy soldiers were the back bone of the british army. The majority of my regiment were ex boy soldiers (junior soldiers). I believe this system should be adopted by the US army they would benefit from this system so much.

The vid made a cockup. In the British Army. Officer ranks go from 2nd Lt as the lowest commissioned rank, to Lt as the rank above. Captain is after Lt.

In more recent times Brits would only be leaving school at 15 if they had a late summer birthday, their cohort would be mostly 16. These days they are expected to be in school or vocational training until 18.

Right I did national service for a year @ 17 after school ended I did army cadets since 13. My dad is ex military & my cadet leader. He taught us loads of life skills. Paided for my university.👍👍🇬🇧

In the British Military it is a rare event if an Enlisted Person gets a Field Commission to 2nd Lieutenant, if someone joined as a Private as a standard rule the highest rank they could ever make would be Warrant Officer, and then they have to be good at their job. But if an Enlisted soldier gets an officer promotion, then they have done something heroic, but this is a rare event.

I live in Iceland and we don't have a military, obviously we are an island so we don't have any boarders with other country's , but i have always felt really safe, in fact Iceland has been the safest country in the word for 14 years in a row.

Brit here (Prefer Scottish lol). Re: 9:10 you can join what’s called the British Army foundation college Harrogate at 16, this is more so a military school where the focus is school like Maths/English but you’ll also do military field training like what you’d do if you joined the army at 17+. There was a good series that documented this and wasn’t glammed up for tv called ‘Raw Recruits’, maybe can find a way to watch it online. Showed things like real life chemical training, bayonet training etc

13:43 weirdly says 2nd alt gets paid more but as an officer you’ll first be 2nd Lt and then move to just Lt

UK Territorial Army ( Army reservists) age 18-43yrs, set hrs training per Yr, part time, weekends & evenings. Paid. So we don't just have serving service people we have trained reservists!

You have to allow, when considering the expenditure of the two nations for, obviously, the size difference of the nations, but also that a lot of organisations that come under the umbrella of 'military' in the US are separate entities in the UK. One example would be the coastguard, but it's not limited to that. The coastguard here isn't a military or law enforcement entity but rather more of a rescue service. The navy covers law enforcement in the water. It's also important to note that while I don't agree with the UK army recruiting 16 year olds, they're not permitted to be deployed until they're 18 so they essentially spend two years training for what's ahead.

I tried to join the Australian army when I was 17, but gotta knocked back because I hadn't finished high school, not tall enough had to be 6 feet and weight wasn't heavy enough. That was in 1973.

Joined up in 79 as a just about 16 year old year old, no work at 18 on the streets ofnorthen ireland

Traditionally, the Royal Navy is the senior armed service; it contains the Royal Marines. It was originally funded by the Monarch (hence 'Royal'). The Army was not funded by the Monarch but by Parliament - so it is not 'Royal'. But many Army regiments and corps were founded by the Monarch, or have since been given the title 'Royal'. The Royal Air Force was founded only in 1918 at a time when such distinctions didn't matter so much.

That’s wrong you get deployment bonus in the British army , the reason that it’s low hourly pay is because a soldier gets payed from 00:00 to 23:59 “one minute to shit”

The 20-40 weeks is trade training where you can go in your preferred regiment or corps I think it’s different for infantry regiments but even infantryman can do additional training on god knows what but throughout the armed forces you can do training courses to work your way up the rank ladder it’s only what my uncle told me he was REME (Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers) in the 70s it could be completely different now

You can join at 16 but you go though a slower training process, we used to call it "kiddy college" but you can't serve in any line of danger until 18.

I can't say about now, but when I joined in 2007 basic training in the British army was 14 weeks, then you went onto trade training which depends on what you do to how long it takes

The retirement parts are for officers as. Normal soldiers retire at the 22 year point but you can go for extensions every year, after my discharge I was offered one but turned it down. A year later I regretted it

In Britain we are very proud of our armed forces but they are dangerously underfunded.

He said we British stop for a brew.. meaning no matter what situation our soldiers are in they always stop for a British CUP OF TEA.. eg brew meaning tea

In the UK the Coast Guard are not part of the armed forces. Also unlike America the Lifeboat service is maintained by public donations and is not a remit of the Coast Guard. If you want to take an average you'd need to look at the percentage of the population the number represents. You can join at 16 as a boy entrant but your service does not count until you reach 18. I think the American VA supports the ex serviceman/woman better the British Army. As a single soldier you are charged for food and accommodation.

When someone joins at sixteen they go to school as junior soldiers they then get posted to the regiment the will serve in but are not allowed to serve on the front line untill 18

You might enjoy a video by Vice on KZfaq. It is called Kids with Guns and looks at the British joint cadet force, a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation for kids aged 12 to 17. Together with the various cadet organisations (Sea Cadets, Air Training Corps, etc) these youth groups have about 120,000 members, but few end up serving as full time military after 18.

UK soldures work in a very difrent way to Americans. James Blunt was a UK oficer in Bosnia, a US officer gave a order James did not agree with. He questioned the order over and over, he told the higher ranked US officer NO, he had never had this. They did not do whatever, the US reported Blunt and the British army backed Blunt, hes very admired for standing up for what was right. British soldures can quesrion orders they are alowed to think. It makes for stronger teams.

Im going to harrogate which is the army 16 boot camp and the time u spend there is 52 weeks for infantry and 36 weeks for a specialist role such as royal engineers

Colonel in the British Army is typically the highest ranking officer most will achieve in their career. Above this you’ll have Generals but heard that’s mostly if you ties to royal family/family background

Okay, that's wild. If you hit mandatory retirement age (64) in the US Army, having started as young as you are allowed (17), you're talking about getting 117.5% (50% + (2.5% * 27) of your last pay? Dang.

How much of the military budget is spent on civilian Paychex?

when on deployment British soldiers get extra pay at a daily rate called LSA (Longer Seperation Allowance) this rate depends on how many nights you have spent 'out of your bed' during your career, this extra pay is also given when on training exercises. There is also extra pay given depending on where the soldier is deployed in the world, this is called LOA (Local Overseas Allowance) and is also given as a daily rate but is different depending on location.

Is the US pension thing true? So if you join at 17, you can retire at 37 on 50% pay, or if you work til a reasonable age like 50, you be earning 82.5% final pay, which would be crazy high for 33 years in, with all the promotions that could come with that.

Actually, the legal age in the UK for school leavers is 16, not 15 in any event. The following is from a UK governmnt website. School leaving age. Your school leaving age depends on where you live. England You can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays. You must then do one of the following until you’re 18: stay in full-time education, for example at a college start an apprenticeship or traineeship spend 20 hours or more a week working or volunteering, while in part-time education or training Scotland If you turn 16 between 1 March and 30 September you can leave school after 31 May of that year. If you turn 16 between 1 October and the end of February you can leave at the start of the Christmas holidays in that school year. Wales You can leave school on the last Friday in June, as long as you’ll be 16 by the end of that school year’s summer holidays. Northern Ireland If you turn 16 during the school year (between 1 September and 1 July) you can leave school after 30 June. If you turn 16 between 2 July and 31 August you can’t leave school until 30 June the following year.

Pensionable pay might not include certain variable allowances, overtime etc. The pensions in payment increase annually too.

You dont get hazard pay in british army but you do get slightly more pay ,i served in the army in the first gulf war and we got the money that we normally paid for food and accomodation back and were also given "water money" im assuming to buy bottled water even though it was provided

My 2 son's both joined the Army at 16,my eldest joined 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment and my youngest 1st Battalion Coldsream Guards.

Common pension plans used to be 1/80th of final year salary for each year worked to a maximum of 50%. Where "pensionable pay" in the final year excludes certain things like special allowances, bonuses and some overtime. Most "Final Salary Pension Plans" have now been replaced by "Defined Contribution Pension" plans, where you build up a pension fund and buy an annuity when you retire. The British Army is about the the last government organisation to still run a Final Salary Pension Scheme.

Sorry for the "offtopic not UK talk". Yeah, German here 16 is pretty normal. While we still had conscription. You were required at 16 as a male to go to the army recruitment office for your aptitude/physical test and do bootcamp and then 9 months of basic service. Signing up on a multiyear contract up to 12 years was optional to become a career soldier. Or you could go into social services like in old folks homes, hospitals ect for a set time and help there. I volunteered back in the day too and passed most with flying colors and had the pick of any specializations. Did volunteer for 12 years of service with foreign missions too. But got washed out with T5 (because of my lungs being too weak due to chronic illness), meaning I was not allowed to join or do social service stuff, not even in wartime the army can't touch me. These days as a programmer, even when I want to work in the military as civilian I need basic training and such and would have to go do it. I'm too old for that nonsense and my eyesight and cardio got way worse. So I have no way to work there despite them searching like crazy. Sadly here are soldiers treated badly by the public, at least according to an navy officer i met at a party and talked with. To be honest I think 16 is too young to make life changing decisions.

They used to get a Deployment bonus as a lump sum but i'm not sure if this is still happening

The entry age into the British military has always been that of the school-leaving age. In the 50s and 60s, it was 15, and when the school leaving age was put up to 16 in the 70s entry into the military adjusted accordingly. When I joined in 1966 into man's service at 18 you signed on for 22yrs with an option of leaving at 3,6, or 9yrs, I took the 9 as you got 9pounds a week as a recruit albeit you got 6pounds in your hand after stoppages. After 22yrs you got a pension based on the rank you retired at. At that time Boy's service did not count towards a pension, this was changed in the 70s with all-time served being pensionable. The 35 yrs mentioned in the video were that of officers as of right and those senior NCOs lucky enough to get on what was known as the long service list.