My British Empire - Chapter 543

  Chapter 543 Military Discussion

   Soon, under the arrangement of His Majesty the King, under the Palace Affairs Office, the Retired Soldiers Placement Office was quickly established, and the person in charge was also arranged.

  The establishment of the resettlement office is to resettle the retired soldiers, eliminate worries, and let the soldiers feel at ease.

   Not only the army, but also the navy, as long as they are legally retired from the army, they can get a resettlement arrangement.

   Of course, when it comes to this, we have to talk about the current military system of the entire United Kingdom.

  First of all, in combination with the traditional compulsory militia system, the entire United Kingdom government has implemented a national winter training system.

  Every able-bodied adult male who has reached the age of sixteen must undergo a month-long military training under the leadership of the local county lieutenant in December of winter, and must not go home.

   These thirty days are mandatory, mandatory, and all citizens must participate.

   That is to say, this is the nature of the obligation of the whole people, replacing the simple tradition of working and military service for His Majesty the King.

   In this regard, the county lieutenant received this task, and the salary naturally increased a little, but the hard work involved made them unable to avoid it.

   This one-month-a-year military training measure can not only grasp domestic adults of the right age, but also recruit them in time. With this data,

   will make more contributions to the kingdom’s military power.

  Before, the recruitment of the army and navy was either to catch unlucky people from the side of the road, or drunks, or refugees. In short, not many people wanted to be soldiers.

  His Majesty the King carried out a series of military reforms to improve the system of defects in the army.

  First of all, in the recruitment of the army, it is no longer the army itself that captures and envies. Instead, the local militia leads the county lieutenant, and cooperates with the military appropriation committee to go to the local area to recruit.

  Of course, there are also those who sign up by themselves. Every county has a recruitment office. Although people are welcome to sign up independently, there are not many responders.

   In terms of salary payment, bad habits have also been changed, and officers are no longer paid independently.

   Instead, let each soldier have his own bank account. In the Bank of England, it is straightforward to transfer to the account on time every month.

  The distribution of salaries has different standards, which has led to the development of the military rank system.

  After a series of discussions, in 1560, the United Kingdom’s military rank system was officially promulgated.

  The military ranks of the army and navy are divided into 9 grades and 22 grades, which are:

   Field Marshal: Field Marshal

  General: general, lieutenant general, major general

  Brigadier General: Brigadier General

  Colonel Officer: Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major

  Lieutenant: Captain, Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant

  Warrant Officer: First-Class Warrant Officer, Second-Class Warrant Officer

  Non-commissioned officers: Regimental Sergeant Chief, Company Sergeant Chief, Team Sergeant Chief

  Sergeant: Sergeant, Sergeant, Corporal

  Private: privates, privates, recruits

   There are two types of army rank marks: officer shoulder badges and soldier (including warrant officers and non-commissioned officers) armbands.

   Marshal: crown, crossed scepter surrounded by laurel branches

   Admiral: crown, four-pointed star, crossed scepter and sword

  Lieutenant General: Crown, crossed scepters and sword

   (to be perfected)

  Major General: four-pointed star, crossed scepter and sword

  Brigadier General: Crown and three four-pointed stars (the rank symbol before 1918 was crossed scepters and swords)

   Colonel: Crown and two four-pointed stars

  Lieutenant Colonel: A crown and a four-pointed star

  Major: Crown

   (to be perfected)

  Captain: Three four-pointed stars

   (to be perfected)

  Lieutenant: two four-pointed stars

   (to be perfected)

  Second Lieutenant: A four-pointed star

   Warrant Officer 1st Class: Crown Surrounded by Laurel Boughs

   (to be perfected)

  Warrant Officer 2: Crown

   (to be perfected)

  Master Chief: British coat of arms surrounded by laurel branches

   (to be perfected)

   Battalion Master Chief: British coat of arms and streamer (indicates battalion honorary title)

   (to be perfected)

   Company Master Chief: British Coat of Arms

   (to be perfected)

  SG: Crown and three stripes (corners down)

   Sgt: Three Angled Lines

   Corporal: two corner lines

   Private First Class: a corner line

  Private: No military rank marks (wearing cap badges, arms symbols, troop armbands and other identification marks)

   Recruits: No identification marks

  New recruits are no more than four shillings a month, all the way to private and non-commissioned officers, the three are increased by four shillings for each rank, and finally when it comes to sergeant, it just reaches one pound.

   Don’t look at the relatively low wages, but this is pure wages. Clothes, food, and weapons are all provided by the army. This little money is more than enough for pocket money, and it can barely support a family.

   Starting from a non-commissioned officer to a lieutenant officer, the starting point is very different, and a new level has been stepped on.

  The starting point for captains is two pounds, and each level increases by eight shillings. When it comes to captains, it reaches four pounds per month.

  This salary is enough to support the family and live in the middle class.

   For colonel officers and brigadier generals, the starting point for majors is five pounds, and each level increases by two pounds. When it comes to brigadier generals, it is eleven pounds per month, and the annual salary is hundreds of pounds.

  As for generals, major generals start at 20 pounds, and each level increases by 10 pounds. When it comes to generals, they get 40 pounds a month and an annual salary of 480 pounds, which is enough to buy a small estate.

  Marshal’s monthly salary is ninety pounds, and his annual salary is thousands of pounds, which is more than the annual income of some barons.

  Of course, these are just ordinary salaries. In wartime, there must be allowances. It can be said that the living standards of soldiers have risen linearly.

  The higher the salary, the more people serve in the army, and the higher the number of years.

  In five years, if you don’t reach the level of a lieutenant officer, you will all retire, unless you have made outstanding contributions.

  The reason for this is that under the setting of this set of military ranks, the royal family and the United Kingdom really cannot afford to support too many soldiers.

  Take the current United Kingdom standing army of 30,000 people as an example.

   There are about 15,000 troops stationed in various places. Although half of the army is shared by the local government, it still needs to be issued by the Army Appropriation Committee close to 5,000 pounds per month.

  While 5,000 defenses are in Normandy and 3,000 defenses are in Brittany, the monthly allocation is close to 10,000 pounds.

  In addition to the thousands of guards in London, the London City Government will pay half of it, but it still needs to allocate 2,000 pounds.

   In other words, the monthly army expenditure has reached 17,000 pounds.

  The number of the navy is only more than 10,000, but because the military expenditure is only shared by the seaport, the government and the royal family still need to spend 10,000 pounds.

  Together, the monthly military expenditure has reached 27,000 pounds, and the royal family needs to share close to 13,500 pounds.

  This is a huge number, which means that the annual military expenditure is 162,000 pounds, and the total amount that the royal family needs to spend on military expenses each year has reached 80,000 pounds.

  Thanks to the sale of land in Normandy and Brittany, the coalition government and the royal family had a blood transfusion, otherwise it would be really difficult.

  After all, the coalition government’s central finance is currently only 200,000 pounds a year, and officials’ salaries already account for half of it. Bridges and roads, education and health, and economic subsidies also need money.

  Setting up a resettlement office is tantamount to additional expenditures, allowances, and resettlement fees are also necessary, and these add up to not a small sum.

   It’s too much for the royal family to make it all the time!

  (end of this chapter)