War Zone, anyone watching?

[norman156]

It's pretty watchable and interesting, but I can't help but think how alot of it makes life over in Afganistan seem jolly nice for serving troops when I'm sure it probably isn't. Almost like it's a bit of an advert for the armed services... It's a bit of a contrast to the documentary Ross Kemp did recently.

[skip_1]

Yeah, some of the HR type roles etc. seem a bit like a holiday

[norman156]

skip_1 said:

seem a bit like a holiday

That's exactly what I thought while watching it! I'm sure anyone here that's served there could tell us differently

[MikeyMike]

It depends on the job you're doing. Unfortunately this program follows an "adminer" around. You tend to find that where ever you on detachment you find there are units who work a pretty standard 9-5 type day with one day off a week and are able to make the most of the welfare facilities, and those whose workload is determined by operations. When I deploy I typically work a 14+ hour day for at least 9 days in a row usually starting at mid-day and working into the early hours. One in every three days you might end up doing a 20 hour shift or thereabouts, longest I've done was 26hrs and that was in the middle of 21 days without a day off. So no, its not a holiday, especially when you factor in the rocket attacks.

[Racefan_uk]

The later episodes get a bit grittier, I've been reliably informed.

[norman156]

MikeyMike said:

It depends on the job you're doing. Unfortunately this program follows an "adminer" around. You tend to find that where ever you on detachment you find there are units who work a pretty standard 9-5 type day with one day off a week and are able to make the most of the welfare facilities, and those whose workload is determined by operations. When I deploy I typically work a 14+ hour day for at least 9 days in a row usually starting at mid-day and working into the early hours. One in every three days you might end up doing a 20 hour shift or thereabouts, longest I've done was 26hrs and that was in the middle of 21 days without a day off. So no, its not a holiday, especially when you factor in the rocket attacks.

Just to confirm I wasn't suggesting it was a 'holiday', just that the program seemed to paint it in that light In the episode that was on earlier the HR woman went to a different base and the troops based there mentioned a similar sort of thing to you, very long days in the middle of long stints without days off. Don't think it's something I could ever manage.
And in regards to the series getting a bit gritier, it look like it might do a bit on the preview for next week, mainly in regards to the young chap and his first deployment outside of the base. So looks like it'll be showing the harsher side of it rather than what we've seen so far which seems to mostly be 'ooh they have a pizza hut and a Subway how nice...' and the annoying welsh bird doing HR work

Edited by norman156 on Tuesday 13th January 01:45