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| Army Home Page / Units and Organisations / Arms and Services / HQ Infantry Home / Regiments / Royal Regiment of Scotland / The Battalions / 4 SCOTS / What's it really like in The Highlanders? |
| What's life really like in The Highlanders? |
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| Many people incorrectly believe that the infantry is all about low pay, getting up at 5am, cold showers, being shouted at all the time, marching everywhere and living in 30 man rooms. |
| In the Highlanders nothing could be further from the truth. For a start the pay is good: a 171/index.htm2year old private soldier earns £225.82 per week (£11,774 per year) on joining the regiment, rising to £265.93 (£13,866) once he has been in for about 18 months - and that's before you add all the other benefits and allowances. |
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Most of the time we work a 5 day week, that is unless we are on guard duty or exercise, (hours are 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday but we knock off at about midday on a Friday). To make up for the extra time we put in we get 30 days paid leave per year. Tasks that we carry out during the normal working week include training, servicing our vehicles, checking and accounting for our equipment, fitness and of course plenty of sport. |
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Variety is the spice of life and at some time in the next year we expect to deploy abroad either on operations or on exercise. We are currently undergoing intensive training to qualify all the soldiers and officers for the huge number of tasks that will be required of us as an Armoured Infantry Battallion in Germany (everyone learns to drive a WARRIOR, many have to learn to command it, most have to learn to maintain, load and fire its weapon systems and also to carry out maintenance on the vehicles themselves). Sport or physical training is part of the programme most days of the week and most weekends the boys will organise themselves a road trip into Europe. |
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We will spend a lot of time on exercise in the next 12 months and will be in a strong positon to be called forward for operations. | |
| As for the living conditions, a single man is most likely to share a room with 2 or 3 others and the rooms are designed to give some privacy. You can have your own things like a TV and stereo etc. The showers are always hot (well almost!). Married men are allocated a 2 or 3 bedroom furnished house at a very cheap rent. |
| We are currently based in St Barbaras Barracks, Fallingbostel, Germany. Life in Germany is good, you will work hard and play hard. As part of 7th Armoured Brigade we are at the forefront of the fighting troops in the British Army. But you also have the towns of Cella, Walsrode, Hanover and Hamburg on your doorstep, and the delights of Berlin, Prague and Copenhagen within easy reach. |
| The pictures below show a typical married soldiers quarter (left) and a married officers quarter (right) in Fallingbostel. |
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