You're in the armed forces, and they want you to do WHAT?

[BruceV8]

otolith said:

Any sympathy I had for this guy on those grounds went out of the window with this very pointed observation, though:

Buggles said:

He also joined when he was 18, he's 25 now. So when he signed up, we were in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Out of interest, how old would he have been when he finished basic training and made his decision, and how long did that bind him for?

In the army, you can leave at any point up to the end of your training or your 18th birthday, whichever is the later. I'd guess he would have been 18 or 19 when he completed training. If you don't exercise that right at that point you then commit to four years service. The option to apply for a Premature Voluntary Release by payment (to 'buy yourself out') is not available for anyone who has joined in recent years. However you can apply for an administrative discharge within that commitment period and if you can justify it it is usually granted. Regardless of that, he could have left on completion of his initiial term - a year ago.

The details of the RN contract may differ, so I await a matelot to come along and fill in the gaps, but most aspects of administration and manning have been 'harmonised' between the three services over the last decade.

[V88Dicky]

It's fairly similar.

You can submit your 12 months notice at around 3 years out of training, depending on job/branch. This 3 or so years is called Return of Service.

[otolith]

BruceV8 said:

Regardless of that, he could have left on completion of his initiial term - a year ago.

What a complete knob-end, in that case.