Gay Trooper Ben Rakestrow is out in Afghanistan

I saw this story first on the BBC news newspaper review yesterday morning, and found myself intrigued that a story of one of the Army's finest who has come out to his fellow troops was being covered by a red top newspaper in a positive way.

So, firstly ten out of ten to The Sun. (I really never thought I would hear myself ever say that!)

But it does prove that finally gay people are being accepted, accepted that our sexuality does not change how we do our job, bizarrely we don't all jump on every person we see of the same sex!

Secondly, this also proves that our Armed Forces are also starting to grow up and become a little more all encompassing on the "gay" issue. It is similar to when they accepted (finally) that women were going to go out onto the frontline and the initial response from the top brass was where would they sleep?

Well, I have always found a bed is good for sleeping on. Seriously though, I get where they were coming from but it was they who were creating the problems. Like gay men and women coming out in the Armed Forces it will always take a little time for people to adapt, the banter to die down and I am sure Ben Rakestrow has had his fill of shower jokes etc, it isn't homophobic as some may say, it is the banter of life in our armed forces.
















Ben Rakestrow serves with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and is back from Afghanistan where he was in the same convoy as Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe when the commanding officer was killed in an explosion.

Ben, like every other man or woman, straight or gay in our armed forces is a hero in my eyes.

Ben is only 21 and my only concern about this whole episode is his choice of duvet cover, come on Ben, Zac Efron? Get a grip mate :-)

50,000 MoD civil servants get £47million shared in bonuses while 51,000 troops earn £16,681

You really couldn't make this up, in the six months between April and October this year 50,000 Ministry of Defence officials, or civil servants have received £47 million in bonuses between them.

While our frontline troops have to go out and buy their own uniforms and kit to ensure they have the basic equipment they need and the average soldier only earns around £17,000 per year.

This is exactly why Nick Clegg was right to launch the Liberal Democrats campaign for fair pay for our troops some months back you can sign the petition here.

Over 51,000 (Over a Quarter of the Armed Forces) receive less in basic pay than a new recruit police constable or fire-fighter. The basic pay for the lowest paid Private is £16,681.

In comparison there are 85,000 civil servants within the Ministry of Defence, of which around 50,000 of them received a share of the £47 million in bonuses.

The government were quick to jump on cancelling training for the Territorial Army to save money, well I can see how £47 million could be saved Gordon, right here, right now.

How dare this Government short change our troops with crap pay, not enough personal kit and nowhere near the right kind or volume of actual equipment hardware such as helicopters or armoured personnel carriers while paying people who are salaried to do a job extra in bonuses.

Shame on this Labour government and every Labour MP.

13,000 lower-ranks personnel in the Armed Forces receive under £17,000 a year basic pay. Even with operational allowances, they receive less than a new recruit to the police force. The average hours worked by Junior Ranks according to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body was 46.2 hours during 2007-2008. Therefore £6.74 is the average hourly pay of a Private. There is an operational Allowance of £2,380 and Separation Allowance of £1,100 paid to all personnel on operations and no opportunities for overtime pay.

The Liberal Democrats proposals would bring the pay of the lower ranks in line with the hourly-rate of trainee and development-level Fire-fighters, as well as new-entrant police constables.

Under the Lib Dem proposals no service personnel would receive less basic annual pay than a new-entrant police constable or development-level fire-fighter.

A fully-trained Private would receive:- an average basic hourly wage of £9.44 from the current £6.74 per hour (£430 per week, an extra £115 a week)- The average pay across the ranks of Private and Lance Corporal would rise to around £25,000- An average basic hourly wage of £10.40 an hour from current £8.80 per hour amounting to £480 per week an extra £73 a week- Other Non-Commissioned Officers would receive pay rises of £20-30 per week (around £1000 per year depending on rank).

You can read more about the Liberal Democrats proposals here.

British Forces Post Office

So, Gordon Brown's Labour government is going ahead with it's cost cutting, and that is fine cuts have to got be made and all the political parties are currently setting out their stalls on this.

However, this in my opinion is one cut too far.

All members of our Armed Forces have now been advised that the British Forces Post Office facilities in mainland Europe will be shut down in September 2010.

What this means in reality is that any armed forces personnel and their families who currently enjoy the same postal rates as the UK will no longer be able to send things through a secure and cheaper network.

Withdrawal of this long established tradition will further erode personnel's ability to communicate with their families in the UK and guarantee the safe receipt of parcels.

Come on Gordon, for crying out loud, what have you got against the Armed Forces? This cannot cost that much in the scale of things?

So, as Christmas approaches next year we shaft our troops who are based in mainland Europe once more.

Sign the petition today and add your voice to nearly 30,000 others who think this is bonkers.