My boyfriend just told me..
 

..that when he goes to Afghanistan, he only gets 30 minutes free phone calls to home a WEEK, and after that calls cost 11p a minute - just recently down from 89p.

I think that's appalling. 30 minutes!? The government in this country is absolutely ridiculous.

It's horrendous, I'm sure they'd be able to cut back on their entourage of cars to even give that slight care to our soldiers. :sad:

I know! All those MPs claiming thousands of pounds of "expenses" for bloody taxis, and I only get to speak to my boyfriend 30 minutes a week for 6 months. :mad:

When my boyfriend was fighting in Iraq, he said the American soldiers had loads of good food, ice cream, and even a Subway paid for by their Government. Our soldiers get a minimum basics because our government just doesn't care enough.

Well in fairness they shouldn't be out there in the first place but thats a whole different argument.

I think the treatment is stupid though, they're out there risking their lives and its being treated as some kind of punishment.

Thats terrible, its important to keep their moral up and spirits high and speaking to loved ones does both of those things.

Our countries treat our armed forces in a terrible way. Like Tom, I agree that they shouldnt be out there but they're all fighting for our country and they should be treated well.

It was the same for my Uncle when he was out in Iraq.He ended sending e-mails instead.

Haha really? I wouldn't start - my boyfriend's a soldier and I know a lot more about it than most people.

And anyway, more than anything, it's not fair to say "well they shouldn't be out there anyway" - the soldiers don't decide to go to war, the government do and like you said it's the soldiers who have to risk their lives :sad:

My older brother is one as well so I'm quite clued up as well ...

I do know they don't have a choice, I mean the government shouldn't have sent them out in the first place because its a pointless war. Its just a shame that the government have got however many thousand soldiers to go out yet they can't treat them properly.

It's not really a pointless war, it could have been avoided but they are achieving a lot over there. I just hate when people (I'm not meaning you, just folk in general) say that wars are achieving anything, or changing anything. Because my boyfriend was in Iraq for seven months, and he knows they're making a difference.

I totally agree with what you mean about them being mistreated. The government should take a leaf out of America's book. Our army is the best army in the world, despite being under equipped and treated like crap.