Buying oneself out of the army

[John Q. Mayhem]

I think that in the old British army you could sell an officer's commision, provided you'd purchased it in the first place. If you'd come up from the ranks, been given your commision instead of purchased it (which I understand was a rare occurance), you couldn't sell it to someone else. IIRC and all that.

 

[glass]

As I understand it (I have never been in the army), once a recruit has got a certain way into his training, he can't leave until he has finished his training and served for a certain amount of time, unless he coughs up a contribution to the cost of that training.

I don't know how long the periods involved are, nor how much money is involved, but I wouldn't imagine it was the full cost of the training as that would be a lot of money, and we know that this is an option that does actually get used.


glass.

 

[tonym]

Thanks for the information, glass!

Tony M

 

[Imruphel]

Sillypore has compulsory national service for all males and no corruption (ahem) but, if you're well-connected, you can buy your way out of completing national service. Of course, being Sillypore, the government-owned media do not report this so I'm relying on the word of a well-connected friend whose family did this for him some time ago....

No, no corruption here at all....

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

A quote from an article I read at timesonline.co.uk:

"...with more than 5,370 infantry soldiers buying themselves out of the army in the past three years rather than be posted back to Iraq or Afghanistan..."

I read this and I thought, wow, a British soldier can buy himself out of the army?

I've never heard of this practice. Can anyone elaborate on it?
Like, how much does it cost?

Singer Billy Bragg bought himself out of the British Army for 175 pounds sterling; this was in the early 1980s. He described the cost as the most wisely spent £175 of his life.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's possible for officer trainees in the US Army to buy themselves out of service. Military Academy and ROTC scholarship cadets, after passing a certain point in their training, are committed to a certain number of years of service. It is possible to pay the cost of your education back and not do that service if you want to drop out (the alternative is to pay that time back as an enlisted soldier) -- though at $50+k a year for USMA, it's not a trade I'd make. Once they take their commission, though, no buying your way out.