Think I read on one of the social media sites, (the one to do with in and links) that us Squaddies, Sailors 
and Airmen & women well I say us, I have been out for 4 months now, are molly coddled and wrapped in a huge blanket? Yep I agree, never having to deal with housing problems, tax claims, whether it be job seekers allowance or working tax credits. Never had to bother about P60s P45s tax codes, all we ever cared about was the figure on our pay statement at the end of the month and boy how we moaned if it was £50 short!!! We knew our daily rate and when it came to millionaire’s weekend a lot of the time our pay covered our overdraft and off we went again!!!! A vicious circle but always the guarantee of a pay cheque at the end of the month. Not all of us I am sure but I knew a few, what was surplus went on all the necessities of life like the ferry home and beer!
It was time to get my head straight, a quite substantial lump sum and a monthly pension to boot. Frantically doing all the sums, pension plus benefits plus salary had to equal enough to pay the mortgage, utilities, car petrol, kids, food and again if any spare, beer! Time to fly the nest and come from under the service wing.
Really not that easy into the Job Centre or onto HMRC.gov to check entitlements? Gone was all the LSA, FIA, HTD, use of fuel cards etc. that had made living so much easier! Was I entitled to, child benefit, child tax credits, job seekers allowance, working tax credits, housing benefit?
Fear not! There is always someone that knows the answer! A friend that has gone before, financial advisors, the RAO (apparently lol!!) but please make sure you are aware either way, ignorance is absolutely fine until you get that tax bill at the end of the year!!! With my pension for example I was unable to claim anything like job seekers allowance before I was employed, but now because I am in employment I can receive working tax credits and child tax credits.
The reason I mention this is I believe a lot of service personnel over price themselves in the wages league, yes we do have many transferrable skills but we need to remain realistic. Therefore some find it hard to gain employment because the wages and the standard of living are not the same as when you were under that blanket I mentioned at the beginning!