2006RUS

Congress affirms and accredits the military pay chart every single year without fail. The President however is the one that has the final approval into the constitution before the Defence Force may start the execution. The military’s fiscal year starts on the 1st of October of every year and ends on the 30th of September.

The increase will only reflect on your salary as from January and not as from October as many may seem to think. As the housing allowance is not determined by the Defense Department there is no direct link to your raise. Food allowance is not determined by the Act. As food prices have fallen and an amount is calculated by the Department of Agriculture after careful consideration. The Act does determine the Family Seperation and Health-care increases and it will be consistent on what was agreed upon.

Defense is under strict obligation to follow pay instructions according to the Military Authorization Act. A pay raise of 1.4% has been allocated across the board. The House has voted for an increase of 1.9% as this was the best affordable option at the time.

The President has a major recession problem to contend with and after careful consideration offered an amount of 1.4% of the wage. Many accepted this offer knowing the predicament the country is in at the moment. The unemployment rate is steadily rising and with millions of people that are jobless a small raise is certainly better than no raise at all.

According to many members the latest pay scheme is certainly not worth writing home about as it is a lot worse than anticipated. The inflation rate is around 3% already and the pay raise has not even covered half of it. Having a decent medical aid system is a priority in today’s life and certain changes that was brought about has partly eliminated this allowance. As those living off welfare checks have received higher increases military personnel are beginning to think if it is all worth it.

To make matters worse army personnel are constantly working overtime and these extra hours are not taken into consideration at all when payday comes along. It is all good and well to fight for king and country but on the home front families are finding it difficult to survive. The low increase has actually caused some members to take a pay cut because the basic allowance for housing is less than what is required.

The measly increase has revealed which of the soldiers are the die-hard patriots. Believe it or not but there are some good souls out there that are willing to sacrifice even more by graciously accepting whatever is thrown their way. These are the ones whose spouse or partner either already earns a substantial income or whose bank account is reasonably loaded.

Amongst the patriots there are a few whose dedication and sacrifice knows no bounds and will give up anything for their beloved country. The government depends heavily on these individuals as it fits well into their plans to restore the country to its former glory. This is in fact the attitude it is hoping many would take.

Those who are part of the military branches are very interested in the military pay chart in order to know what income levels will be for the upcoming year. The 2011 military pay chart has been developed and issued for legislators to approve.

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Typically, a military pay chart is generally a predetermined level of funds which can be employed to compensate individuals. This is the wage based mostly payment associated with employment. The allocation of this money is in return for any service provided related with an obligation. Typically, this kind of revenue is deemed as income with regards to an completed duty.

Military funds is compensated in accordance to particular dates as a result of the 12 month calendar. The usual payment dates are the 15th and 30th of every month. Nonetheless any kind of modification of compensation is done so by Congress at a certain part of the year. Any modifications must be amended by elected Congressman and it will become part to the law. Nothing can be done until it is approved by Congress.

Elected officials decide the salary for every branch of service. There is are Congressional Acts that oversee the salaries and their distribution. The Appropriations Act, as well as the Agreement Act are handed down by Congress and then signed in to law every year. This needs to take place any distribution can be done by the Department of Defense.

It is a long process whenever there are pay increases. This goes through a system of approvals before it reaches the Department of Defense. Every year a new pay chart is put out. They are available for administrative staff that handle compensation. But every year, these updated salary scales are mailed out to military families. It really is very useful information. And unlike corporate America, all of the salaries are known and out in the public.

When service men and women have completed serving their time in active service, some choose to end their military career right away. Other service persons take a different route and choose to remain partially employed in active reserves. This means that military can re-activate them at any time and for any reason. These service men and women can also be called into war. Reservist have signed up to be available whenever they are needed. They are constantly on call.

Whenever service people complete their required service time, several decide to leave the actual military all together. But there are lots of others that to remain as reservist. This implies that the branch where they served can merely re-activate them at any time. These kinds of also include times of battle. Reservist are obligated being on call and ready to end up being shipped out anywhere in the world at any given time.

Those on active duty receive their pay twice per month. But then there are those that were once on active duty but they are now in the reserves. These men and women also receive a salary, although it is not as high as it was when they were on active duty. This pay for those in the reserves is paid every month. This compensation is also goes according to the salary scale.

The men and women that are in the reserves receive a nice monthly stipend. They can still be employed in other areas of work but still get their pay as a reservist. It is a great source of additional income. They must report into to military duty on the weekends but the rest of the week is there’s. The only thing is, these men and women can be reactivated unexpectedly. They can even be sent out into battle. Military pay chart information is very handy to have.

A military pay chart has pertinent descriptions to assist in planning your budget. The 2011 military pay chart provides you with the detailed job pay for various positions and tenure statuses.

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The Battle of Rorkes Drift is without doubt one of the most famous battles during the background within the British army. It was around this little mission station along the border of Zululand and Natal where a few thousand Zulu warriors attacked a garrison of no more than 140 British soldiers. The soldiers fought for their lives through the night and by morning, the Zulu warriors had retired back to Zululand. The top award for gallantry while in the British Army is the Victoria Cross and the action at Rorkes Drift saw twelve VCs awarded, greater than in any other single action in the past.

The fight was portrayed in the Stanley Baker movie “Zulu” and one of several leading characters who acted heroically at Rorkes Drift, in the end didn’t get a Victoria Cross. Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne was instead awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal that is ranked 2nd behind the Victoria Cross. In addition, Bourne was also offered a commission but he declined. Being the eighth son in their household, there was no money available and this was a time when wealth was used to buy commissions for officers within the British Army.

Of course, Bourne became a career soldier and a good one as well. Immediately following South Africa, he was posted to India and Burma before finally earning his commission 11 years on from the Battle of Rorkes Drift. He finally retired from the British Army in 1907. Only 7 years later, The First World War broke out and Bourne re-enlisted in the army. By the conclusion of the Great War in 1918, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was made an OBE. Bourne left the military again, this time around forever.

Because of the actor who played the part of Bourne in the film Zulu, the majority of people presumed Frank Bourne to have been middle aged during the time of the Battle of Rorkes Drift however in truth he was merely 24 years old.

After the finish of The First World War, Bourne lived in retirement in Beckenham, South London and he was the last survivor of the battle to pass away at the age of 91 on 8th May 1945, the very day World War II in Europe came to an end.

Even though he didn’t receive the Victoria Cross, CSM Frank Bourne was one of the most famous men who saw action at Rorkes Drift.

Rorke’s Drift can be found 46 kilometres southeast of Dundee and is the place of without doubt one of the most celebrated struggles from the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. The scenery in the vicinity of Rorke’s Drift is unspoilt and restful. Irishman James Rorke initially set up a trading stop just about 1 mile from the drift (crossing point) on the Buffalo River and had been known to the Zulu warriors as KwaJimu (Jim’s place). Later, a mission station had been set up by the Reverend Otto Witt from the Swedish Missionary Society. Witt built a small church, mission house and livestock kraal at the base of a rugged mountain which in turn he named Oskarberg.

Lord Chelmsford, had ‘taken control of’ Rorke’s Drift just before his traversing of the Buffalo River. He employed the house as an infirmary and the chapel for a storage facility. Throughout the combat it was utilised as a medical facility. The defence of the mission station of Rorke’s Drift followed the British Army’s loss at the Battle of Isandlwana earlier on the morning of 22nd January 1879. The awesome Zulu attack on Rorke’s Drift came tremendously near to defeating the tiny garrison, and the British defiance is regarded as one of history’s most admired defences. The 11 Victoria Crosses given for valour at Rorke’s Drift remain more than for any other military action of all time.

The moment Lord Chelmsford, the commander-in-chief of the British military in Natal, moved into Zululand on 11th January 1879, he set up camp on the other side of the Buffalo river, 16km to the east, under the mountain peak at Isandhlwana. Three columns invaded Zululand, from the Lower Tugela, Rorke’s Drift and Utrecht respectively, their main objective being Ulundi, the Royal capital of the Zulus. On 9th January 1879 the central column under Lord Chelmsford arrived and made camp at Rorke’s Drift.

At day break on 22nd January 1879, the main Zulu impi assaulted the British camp at Isandlwana. Lord Chelmsford had taken some of his force off in an alternative course seeking the Zulu army. Hopelessly outnumbered, the British and indigenous forces were wiped out by the Zulu warriors and only approximately fifty men escape with their lives. The rest of the thousand strong force were killed. Later on that day, over 4,000 zulu warriors led by Dabulamanzi assaulted the small garrison of the 24th Regiment at Rorke’s Drift. These Zulu warriors had missed out on the fighting at Isandlwana and needed to prove themselves in war. Cetshwayo had clearly ordered his warriors not to cross the Buffalo River which was the border by Natal and Zululand. Inspite of this order, the Zulus took the rifles off the corpses of the British dead and headed to Rorke’s Drift. It was manned by 97 fit troops, housed 36 wounded, 14 helpful natives, 5 officers and 2 lieutenants, one of which was new to the region. The Battle of Isandlwana was arguably the most humiliating defeat in British colonial heritage and merely hours later on, at Rorke’s Drift, 139 British soldiers successfully defended their position against an extreme attack by more than 4,000 warriors.

What is usually disregarded is that the Battle at Rorke’s Drift could have resulted in an identical terrible way as Isandlawana, except for just one essential factor: Rorke’s Drift was a depot, which means the British soldiers who fought there were able to count on a near limitless source of ammo. It’s believed that between 20,000 and 25,000 rounds were fired during the defence of Rorke’s Drift, the overwhelming majority of the rounds having missed their targets altogether so that, conservatively speaking, every 25th round fired by the defenders at Rorke’s Drift led to an ultimate Zulu death, and each and every 50th round was a kill shot. The British knew the Zulus were coming nevertheless they decided to stand and fight. Wounded men would certainly had to have been placed onto wagons and Zulu warriors would quickly have found them in the open. Instead, they decided to fight on ground of their choosing.

On top of having numbers that smashed a force 5 times stronger hours earlier, the Zulu warriors now had the Martini-Henry rifles taken off the British dead, giving them an even greater edge over the British.

Henry Hook plus 5 other privates were instructed on the afternoon of 22nd January to defend around 30 people unable to be moved away from the temporary hospital at Rorke’s Drift . Defensive lines were constructed between the 2 structures and the hospital and the store room. Within this perimeter, an inner line of defence was built joining together the two complexes and this proved significant in the battle. The Zulu warriors attacked the hospital setting fire to the roofing. Hook and others battled for several hours, physically hacking through walls and gradually getting nearly all out of the hospital and over to the inner defensive line near the store. Wave upon wave of Zulu warriors with spears and rifles crashed into the makeshift lines of defence at Rorke’s Drift. The battles raged through the night but in the morning the British defences still held firm and the Zulus eventually pulled back.

Immediately after seeing the aftermath of Isandlwana, Chelmsford believed that Rorke’s Drift had fallen and only the sound of cheering from the garrison convinced him otherwise. eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the men of Rorke’s Drift. Colour Sergeant Frank Bourne was amongst five men to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the rare honour of a commission. However, his military pay was his only source of income had he believed he could not financially afford to become an officer which means declined the commission. Fittingly, he was the last survivor of Rorke’s Drift to pass away on 8th May 1945 and VE Day. Lieutenant-Colonel Frank Edward Bourne OBE, DCM was 91 years old.

The action at Rorkes Drift is one of the most well known in British army history and is just part of an amazing story.

For the duration of The Great War, the historic Belgium market town of Ypres was in a strategically critical position near to the British front lines and it is one of the most infamous parts of the Western Front from the awful fighting that happened here.

The city itself ended up being in the middle of the Ypres Salient, a piece of the front line protruding towards German lines. Historically, Ypres can certainly be traced back to the 12th century. In the face of decades of fighting and occupation, the town grew but with the outbreak of The First World War, it was under German occupation.

The 1st Battle of Ypres tin October and November 1914 saw Britain and her Allies capture the town from the German Army and irrespective of vicious fighting around Ypres until finally the war concluded in 1918, the Germans did not recapture Ypres.

However, during the four years of The First World War, Ypres suffered a fearful toll while four big battles took place about here. During the Second Battle of Ypres in April and May 1915, the Germans recaptured the high ground towards the east of Ypres. The area covered the village of Passchendaele.

In 1917, without doubt one of the most ferocious battles of the Great War happened. The Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele saw Britain and her Allies recapture the ridge though with a terrible cost. From July and November 1917, there was approximately half a million deaths and injuries on both sides and Ypres was nearly destroyed by German heavy guns.

The important Cloth Hall and most other buildings were destroyed and years of heritage were gone. In 1933, rebuilding began on the Cloth Hall and it was at long last completed in 1967 having been carefully reconstructed to bring back its heritage. Presently, the Cloth Hall in Ypres houses the In Flanders Fields Museum.

Throughout The First World War, the Menin Gate was simply an exit cut through the eastern ramparts of Ypres. A large number of soldiers would’ve marched via this exit along the way to the front lines. In 1927, the Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled. It commemorates the names of over 54,000 soldiers who sadly are still missing on the battlefields across the Ypres Salient and each night, the Last Post ceremony will take place here at 8pm by the grateful citizens of Ypres.

Throughout World War I, the Ypres Salient saw some of the worst action between 1914 and 1918.

All through The Great War, the slaughter over the fields of Flanders was on an awful scale with the majority of bodies never identified or recovered. On 11th November 1920, simultaneously ceremonies were held both in London and Paris to unveil tombs of unknown soldiers.

The tomb of the unknown soldier came to represent the loss sustained by the families of troops who died and their bodies were never identified or brought back. The unknown French soldier lies in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris while the unknown British soldier lies buried in Westminster Abbey between nobleman and statesmen.

The concept was initially thought of by a clergyman named Reverend David Railton. In 1916 in France, he had found a cross with the words “An Unknown British Soldier” written on it. 4 years later in 1920, Railton approached the Dean of Westminster indicating it may be acceptable to create a nationally recognised grave for an unknown soldier.

4 British servicemen were exhumed from Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres and taken to a chapel at St Pol, close to Arras. Each body was covered in a Union flag then one was selected by Brigadier General L J Wyatt. Wyatt had no idea where the soldiers had been taken from or their rank. The point was that the unknown soldier may perhaps have been anyone from a Private to a Colonel, a colonial manual worker to the son of an Earl.

The soldiers casket was sent to London and was delivered to Westminster Abbey in a horse drawn gun carriage. The cortege was accompanied by King George V and members of the Royal family. At Westminster Abbey, it was flanked by a guard of 100 winners of the Victoria Cross.

The coffin was positioned and covered with soil taken from the battlefields of The First World War. It was capped with a slab of black marble from Belgium and it is the only tombstone in Westminster Abbey which it is forbidden to walk.

Since then, plenty of other nations have committed similar tombs such as Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Russia, Ukraine and the United States.

World War I was reduced to a bloody stalemate which saw so many lives wasted. Few families in Great Britain were left unaffected.

Brandhoek Cemetery is the place Captain Noel Chavasse is buried. Captain Chavasse is one of merely 3 men to have been awarded Britain’s top award for valour, the Victoria Cross. In addition, he was also accorded the Military Cross. I’m currently reading through a book titled “In Foreign Fields” by Dan Collins and it is about troopers who have been accorded medals in Afghanistan and Iraq. When you understand what a soldier was required to achieve so as to be accorded an MC, it makes you understand what a brave man Capt Chavasse was particularly as he was a member of the Royal Medical Corps and never fired a shot throughout the conflict.

My next stop was close to the village of Passchendaele at the largest sized British Military Cemetery at Tynecot. Upwards of 12,000 troops are buried here. From Tynecot, you’ll be able to see for several miles everywhere over fields and it seems tough to think of the carnage that was there 90 years ago. The visitors centre provides a background of the area as the names of several of the dead and missing are put out calmly over speakers.

From Tynecot, I started to head back on the way to Ypres stopping at Hill 61 (Sanctuary Wood) on the way back. There’s a compact museum and a few conserved trenches . Throughout my trip, the climate wasn’t kind and while it had been nothing like as lousy as conditions would have been all through The Great War, the bottom of the trenches still looked quite awful. It cost a few Euros to get in and this was the first place I started to notice the effects of the notorious mud.

My next intended stop was the Hooge Crater. As previously in the day, I had a hard time trying to locate it although I did find a modest independent museum known as the Hooge Crater Museum which in fact had an intriguing assortment of artefacts such as a British Ambulance and a Victoria Cross. My sightseeing for the day was not complete as I still wanted to check out the popular Cloth Hall that was just about ruined (since totally reconstructed) and the Last Post ceremony which is carried out at 8pm every evening at the Menin Gate. I always find the Last Post extremely haunting and moving to hear. After it was finished, 2 wreaths were placed by young British soldiers and was followed by a recital from Laurence Binyon’s “For The Fallen”

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

The key part of most visits to Ypres is the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate every evening at 8 o’clock.

Although it was officially established in July 1940, the SOE (Special Operations Executive) had been created in 1938 with the combination of 3 current, top secret sections just after Germany annexed Austria. Churchill’s Secret Army was directed to “Set Europe Ablaze”.

SOE operatives were directed to various Nazi occupied countries to simultaneously cause destruction behind German lines and in addition start to locate local resistance groups they would likely work with once the occasion for invasion came. Theatres of Operation involved France, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece, Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Denmark, Romania, Abyssinia and the Far East.

As operatives operated deep in Nazi held territory and they were recruited from an assortment of social class and background. The key criteria was that the probable agent had exhaustive understanding of the land they would operate in and in a position to pass as a local of that country. For that reason, those with dual nationality were highly desirable.

The renowned plane used by the SOE in France was the Westland Lysander. It was a small aircraft which caused it to be a whole lot more tricky to watch and was robust enough to land on makeshift landing strips. It was used to ferry operatives to and from the United Kingdom together with collecting those who needed to be interviewed in London. Pilots who had been shot down were also frequently brought back to the United Kingdom by Lysander.

Amid the SOE group were also female agents and around 30% of the female operatives delivered into France from Section F, did not survive. The types of operations in each region were wide ranging. For example, in Poland, there was limited need to stir up the local population as there was already common hatred of the Nazis. This was in comparison to areas such as Vichy France where some locals worked with with the Germans and the probability of SOE operatives being betrayed was considerably increased.

For the period of World War II, the SOE had utilised about 13,000 people who directly helped or provided somewhere in the region of 1 million operatives.

The Special Operations Executive played a significant role during World War II primarily in Europe but in other parts of the world too.

The exact origin of Berkhamsted Castle is unclear. It was almost certainly built by Robert, Count of Mortain and Earl of Cornwall, who was the half-brother of King William I. Robert prospered from the Norman Conquest in 1066 and grew even more rich during the following years.

However, his son made a big mistake by backing Robert of Normandy against King Henry I. Henry confiscated the castle and its grounds and put it up for rent. A number of wealthy families rented it from time to time, one of whom was Thomas Becket.

Berkhamsted Castle is of the classic style for its age in that it is a motte and bailey castle. The motte is a tall conical rise of earth on which would stand the last line of defence, the keep. Two ditches surround the bailey with a rampart in between. The ditches may or may not have been full of water.

The motte and bailey and its keep were the ancient equivalent of a modern strong or safe room. If the outer concentric walls of the castle were breached, the family living in the castle and their most trusted soldiers would flee into the keep and lift up the drawbridge. Any would-be attackers now had to advance over open ground, in effect a killing field.

Then the invaders would have to cross a ditch or a moat under heavy fire, climb over a rampart and swim another moat. If they got that far they would face a sheer keep wall with no windows doors or toe-holds while a withering shower of rocks and arrows poured down upon them from a great height.

The keep at Berkhamsted Castle has been taken away quite some time ago. It has to be remembered that castles were symbols of foreign oppression and were fiercely hated by the indigenous locals. The first castles or forts really were Roman; then came, Saxon forts and castles and finally Norman castles – all owned by marauding foreigners.

So once a castle was ruined or badly damaged, it was not unusual for the locals to pillage the ruins in order to build a new cottage for their family or a new cowshed for their livestock. It was easier to steal the rocks from the dilapidated castle than quarry them themselves. So, the original rocks that were Berkhamsted Castle are probably to be found under centuries of plaster in the near-by local farmhouses.

Having said that, there are still parts of the original flint wall from the era of Thomas Becket’s occupancy of the castle. The pieces of stone were probably too small to be worth pinching.

The remnants of three semi-circular towers flank this wall which ran from the motte to the bailey. They as well lie in ruins although the foundations show what they were. There are also the ruins of a barbican at the north end of the bailey.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of castles in the United Kingdom. Most of them lie in ruins but some are very well conserved and some are even still occupied, like Windsor Castle for instance.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a variety subjects, but is now concerned with the bouncy castles for sale. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Bouncy House Rentals

Throughout the build up to the Allied invasion in Normandy in 1944, a terrific deal of preparation and organizing was required. Data was consistently being gained by a network of spies whilst materials and equipment were being brought to England. These would be vital all through and following what was and still is the largest invasion force ever assembled.

Organisation and exercises was a necessary aspect of the plans. Rangers who were to attack Point du Hoc became proficient by climbing cliffs and soldiers staged practice beach landings. A big component of the planning of secrecy and the locals of the UK were required to play their part. In Devon, an area called Slapton Sands was identified as a superb practice area due to the parallels with the Utah landing beach in Normandy.

Exercises for the landings started in late 1943 with the main invasion scheduled for June 1944. Over 3,000 residents were relocated from the local area around Slapton Sands. Many exercises were organised and one of the biggest was Operation Tiger involving roughly 30,000 men (approximately 33 % of the present strength of the British Army) were to be involved.

Exercise Tiger occurred in late April 1944. The first practice landings were made without any complications but in the course of the exercise scheduled for the early hours of 28th April 1944, disaster hit. German E-Boats on patrol from Cherbourg intercepted a convoy of 8 LST (Landing ships). They fired torpedoes at the LSTs and desperate men leaped into the icy waters to get away the sinking ships. Many hadn’t been instructed how to put on their life preservers and perished.

In addition to the E-Boat attacks, more men died on the beaches themselves. The use of live ammunition had been authorised and in addition to the fatalities in the sea, there were further casualties by friendly fire as they strayed into the wrong sections of the beaches.

Overall in excess of 900 men were killed during Exercise Tiger and it was nearly forty years before the facts were made public. Ironically, only nearly 200 men died on Utah Beach during the real landings in Normandy on 6th June 1944. Today, a Sherman Tank is on display at Slapton Sands as a memorial to the men who died throughout Exercise Tiger.

The landings on 6th June 1944 at Normandy were carried out by the greatest invasion fleet the world had seen. Exercise Tiger had been part of the preparations for the invasion.

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