Offered a job in Afghanistan! Do I go?!

[GT03ROB]

alfaman said:

GT03ROB said:

Very simplistically you need to be working "full time" overseas for a complete tax year (IE: April - April) & are allowed to be in the UK for up to 90days each tax year. Provided you complete a tax year you can be tax free from the point of departure to the point of return. There are definitions of full time. It can be a lot more complicated but these are the basics.

It used to be 90 days.

It is now determined by a matrix of ‘days’ x how many ties you have to the UK ( home / wife / children / etc )

Eg : allowable days in UK reduces with increased number of ties.

Quite complicated - but fairly well explained on the HMRC website . ( factors include days in UK / ties / plus residency status for previous 3 years ).

Rules were changed to prevent people like airline pilots claiming overseas residency when they had home , wife, kids, car, and employer in UK - while spending most days per month flying long haul away from the UK. but their home base was UK.

And Yes : basically you need to be employed for a full tax year outside of the UK.

To keep it simple I actually quoted the 3rd automatic overseas test, which would apply to OP. The ties only come into play if you fail to meet any of the automatic overseas nor any of the automatic UK tests.

[MC Bodge]

Sa Calobra said:

How so? Hes stuck IN a base. He's not armed up and exploring.

Unless he's already on fantastic pay i don't see how going for the same money is worth it at all. Do you not read about the daily attacks and killings en masse OP?

75 days straight is daft.

Letting your ex move into your house that you are selling, are you mad? What if she refuses to leave?

This reads like a mid life crisis. You are at a cross roads, in crisis following a break up. You want something, some excitement.

Become a Special Constable, join the Army reserves or take up a new and very different hobby.

And please, a single man with cats? No. Just no.

I totally agree. This is not the way to make your life more exciting, do something more useful or to see the world.

If you want to do something along those lines, working for an NGO / charity somewhere in a post disaster zone could be better.

This Afghan job sounds like self flagellation.

As for the cats....

[TroubledSoul]

Peteop thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Wow, some of you are truly savage. We got the cats as a couple and I kept the majority of them, I don't really care if people look disparagingly on that. Also my ex is a decent person and hasn't asked for anything of mine as part of our breakup or any future divorce, even going so far as to use a website where you can make an agreement you both sign that neither is entitled to this or that. She wouldn't refuse to leave as she knows I'm so pig headed I'd just come move back in if that happened, whether she liked it or not Honestly, while I'm sure good intentioned, don't worry about the house. I'm not.

To answer some questions, no I am not on a huge daily rate. I am only looking at a desktop support job which will be easy as pie for me, but not massive wages. I'm starting to lean more towards NOT going after some of the responses in this thread, but what if I don't get another chance to work for NATO? Also, there is scope for progression there into better roles which will also pay more. In addition, if the house sold while I was away, I could literally come back to a job in any part of the country and resettle if it suited.

Those are some of the things I'm keen on. Plus the NATO Secret security clearance. And the opportunity to get a ride in a Hercules or a Chinook I just feel like it might give me a different perspective on life and the two and a half month detox might just do me a world of good

[Shnozz]

Sa Calobra said:

This reads like a mid life crisis. You are at a cross roads, in crisis following a break up. You want something, some excitement.

Reading your posts I am minded to agree with this. Sounds like justified escapism to me.

Get yourself down Lost & Found followed by Silks and away on a few holidays. If you still want to go and work in the arris end of nowhere register with some agencies and wait for the right paying opportunity at least.

[TroubledSoul]

Shnozz said:

Reading your posts I am minded to agree with this. Sounds like justified escapism to me.

Get yourself down Lost & Found followed by Silks and away on a few holidays. If you still want to go and work in the arris end of nowhere register with some agencies and wait for the right paying opportunity at least.

I suppose there is an element of wanting to be away from it all for a bit, sure. But unless you're in a much higher role than myself, you don't often get opportunities to work in other countries for people like NATO. The fact I could get their security clearance and potentially get another job after this one in a less crazy place is a major motivator.

[PurpleTurtle]

That's all very well OP, but you are going to work 75 days straight in a dangerous part of the world with no days off, for no increase in the pay you are getting at home.

Wake up. The agent is pulling your pants down and shafting you here. Whilst you are living in not very salubrious conditions he is drinking champagne acquired from a humungous margin and laughing in your face.

[petop]

MC Bodge said:

Sa Calobra said:

How so? Hes stuck IN a base. He's not armed up and exploring.

Unless he's already on fantastic pay i don't see how going for the same money is worth it at all. Do you not read about the daily attacks and killings en masse OP?

75 days straight is daft.

Letting your ex move into your house that you are selling, are you mad? What if she refuses to leave?

This reads like a mid life crisis. You are at a cross roads, in crisis following a break up. You want something, some excitement.

Become a Special Constable, join the Army reserves or take up a new and very different hobby.

And please, a single man with cats? No. Just no.

I totally agree. This is not the way to make your life more exciting, do something more useful or to see the world.

If you want to do something along those lines, working for an NGO / charity somewhere in a post disaster zone could be better.

This Afghan job sounds like self flagellation.

As for the cats....

Just to go on about the "exciting" bit......its actually not that much. Ok the first few weeks/months you will be wide eyed because of the fact you are in a new part of the world but you actually do not see it apart from the inside of base. In Kandahar you will not see a Afghan as very few now are allowed on-base due to the insider attacks that occurred a few years ago. It will take getting used to being surrounded by everyone who is armed but then having experienced one of my work colleagues being shot by a US soldier by accident in the dining facility a few years ago you wish some soldiers were not near weapons.
And dont forget you are doing IT....i think even you will admit is not the most exciting job in the world. But i admit there will be the odd moment.......if not your first rocket attack which still does get the heart going and this is from someone who was at Bastion when it was attacked and been rocket attacked more times than i have fingers and toes.
But in the past 5 years i have driven armoured B6 Landcruisers through Kabul, been driven to obscure Afghan installations with the US military, seen Taliban fire rockets at bases i was in and flown in ex Russian military aircraft into abandoned Afghan airfields where people who are usually seen with faces blacked out in pictures meet you on quad bikes as you taxi in to deliver stuff in the back!
I may put some of my old pictures up later now i have left there, if my present internet lets me.....bloody IT!!!! lol!

[petop]

TroubledSoul said:

Shnozz said:

Reading your posts I am minded to agree with this. Sounds like justified escapism to me.

Get yourself down Lost & Found followed by Silks and away on a few holidays. If you still want to go and work in the arris end of nowhere register with some agencies and wait for the right paying opportunity at least.

I suppose there is an element of wanting to be away from it all for a bit, sure. But unless you're in a much higher role than myself, you don't often get opportunities to work in other countries for people like NATO. The fact I could get their security clearance and potentially get another job after this one in a less crazy place is a major motivator.

By the way NATO Secret can be a pain to get. Trust me on this. A friend of mine who was going to do my old job who is ex-mil and had it before is still waiting due to back log over 6 months later. And it doesn't travel around with you. NATO Secret stops the moment you leave.
And the US ignore the fact you have it to the point that for me to get log-in for their Un-Class system took me 3 months of checks.

[Flooble]

petop said:

By the way NATO Secret can be a pain to get. Trust me on this. A friend of mine who was going to do my old job who is ex-mil and had it before is still waiting due to back log over 6 months later. And it doesn't travel around with you. NATO Secret stops the moment you leave.
And the US ignore the fact you have it to the point that for me to get log-in for their Un-Class system took me 3 months of checks.

I can just see the OP's clearance not coming through and him having to spend 75 days being escorted at all times! That would get wearing after about the fifth request to go to the toilet.

[TroubledSoul]

Flooble said:

I can just see the OP's clearance not coming through and him having to spend 75 days being escorted at all times! That would get wearing after about the fifth request to go to the toilet.

That would be just my luck!

[sc0tt]

No offence buddy but if it is just desktop support work I'd be more inclined to head down to the bright lights of london to actually get a salary increase and rent on the outskirts.

[The Selfish Gene]

did we ever get the role and the rate?

As a London contractor for 20 years - if I know role and rate I'll tell you what you can get in London by industry.

[Olivera]

PurpleTurtle said:

Wake up. The agent is pulling your pants down and shafting you here. Whilst you are living in not very salubrious conditions he is drinking champagne acquired from a humungous margin and laughing in your face.

+1

[sc0tt]

The Selfish Gene said:

did we ever get the role and the rate?

As a London contractor for 20 years - if I know role and rate I'll tell you what you can get in London by industry.

Desktop support so I’d estimate £180-£220p/d in London

[The Selfish Gene]

sc0tt said:

The Selfish Gene said:

did we ever get the role and the rate?

As a London contractor for 20 years - if I know role and rate I'll tell you what you can get in London by industry.

Desktop support so I’d estimate £180-£220p/d in London

shift work could be slightly higher - but yeah agree.

and fk that - would I go to Afghanistan for 50k a year. I know soldiers get paid a lot less, and I have massive respect for what they do for this country.

As an IT bod - fk that. Seriously. It's not even the danger factor, it's the st hole, hot , lack of home comfort , no birds thing.

In your boat OP - I'd be asking for 600 - 800 per day depending on other things (number of flights home, tax situation etc)

[selym]

The Selfish Gene said:

shift work could be slightly higher - but yeah agree.

and fk that - would I go to Afghanistan for 50k a year. I know soldiers get paid a lot less, and I have massive respect for what they do for this country.

As an IT bod - fk that. Seriously. It's not even the danger factor, it's the st hole, hot , lack of home comfort , no birds thing.

In your boat OP - I'd be asking for 600 - 800 per day depending on other things (number of flights home, tax situation etc)

Been to Kabul have we? Obviously depending on the time of year you are more likely to complain about the cold. We had a snowball fight with the LECs (Locally Employed Civilians) on Xmas Day a few years back.It was around -20 for a while. No birds? There is a Chinese wehouse down the strip; just don't tell them your name, Pike!!

[The Selfish Gene]

selym said:

Been to Kabul have we? Obviously depending on the time of year you are more likely to complain about the cold. We had a snowball fight with the LECs (Locally Employed Civilians) on Xmas Day a few years back.It was around -20 for a while. No birds? There is a Chinese wehouse down the strip; just don't tell them your name, Pike!!

ha ha I didn't mean to offend you I haven't been to Kabul no. I was assuming it was a st hole, due to well, it being a warzone.

and a Chinese wehouse filled in by a load of soldiers 5 times a night is not my idea of birds!!!

To be fair, I wouldn't even work in Newcastle for that number - so maybe I'm a bit precious

[amoeba]

I once worked with a colleague who was a network it type guy (i.e. setting up servers, cabling, etc). He claimed he had done a few stints in either Iraq or Afghanistan and the pay had been huge - huge enough to pay off his mortgage.

How come they are only paying ste money (or are you already on damn good money)?

[RizzoTheRat]

NCIA, who do most of NATOs IT stuff, are planning on growing a bit over the next year or so. Theres currently quite a few jobs on thier vacancies page so could be worth a look OP. They'll be a 3 year contract and most will be based in Belgium or the Netherlands, sometimes with the opportunity to deploy on operations for a few months.

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/recruit-wide....

[selym]

The Selfish Gene said:

selym said:

Been to Kabul have we? Obviously depending on the time of year you are more likely to complain about the cold. We had a snowball fight with the LECs (Locally Employed Civilians) on Xmas Day a few years back.It was around -20 for a while. No birds? There is a Chinese wehouse down the strip; just don't tell them your name, Pike!!

ha ha I didn't mean to offend you I haven't been to Kabul no. I was assuming it was a st hole, due to well, it being a warzone.

and a Chinese wehouse filled in by a load of soldiers 5 times a night is not my idea of birds!!!

To be fair, I wouldn't even work in Newcastle for that number - so maybe I'm a bit precious

None taken I assure you; and I don't think the servicemen go anywhere near it to be fair. I never found the place to be a sthole - I'd imagine that there are far worse places to be in the world (not many but there are some!). My abiding memory is a helo trip into the mountains; dropped off into the snow for an hour while they did touch and go passes. It is one of the most amazing places to see, especially the journey there - breathtaking.