Meal deal a real mess

AFTER I earned the right to be a member of the sergeants’ mess some 12 years ago, I had the privilege of being able to have a meal with my direct family in the comfortable surroundings of the mess environment for the small fee of between $4 and $5 a head.

For the past few years I was in a unit that didn’t have a mess, so I only discovered this year that the system had changed.

It seems my wife and children, who have been dragged all over the country and have been my valued support through my career, are no longer allowed to enjoy a meal in the mess for a small fee. The cost is now up to $37 per head.

If my family were to accompany me to the mess for an evening meal it would cost me $37 for the wife and up to $37 for the children, depending on age. It is actually cheaper to go to a family restaurant or bistro.

I have earned the right to be a member of the mess and I pay fees (up to $220 a year) yet it seems the mess is segregating the direct family members.

Public servants are allowed to eat in the mess at the nominated $4 and $5. Quiet a few of these personnel (not all) have never served as soldiers, sailors or airmen and they are not required to pay mess fees.

If it’s all right to drag your family all over the country then at least have the decency to show some respect to the direct family of the member and allow them to enjoy these facilities – not just the sergeants’ mess, but all the messes within Defence.

I feel sorry for the PMCs wondering why attendance is low and frustrated as to why members are not interested in the mess.

Is the money more important than family?

Unfortunately my family has lost interest in the mess (due to cost) and I wonder how many others no longer attend.

Please change the contract throughout Australia and encourage families back to the mess.
WO2 Norm Davis
JLU-N
Larrakeyah Barracks

Maj John Kerrison, SO2 Facility Management AHQ, replies:
YOU have posed a number of questions, so let me answer each of them in turn.

First, the rate of $37 for a meal by a non-Defence member is nearly correct. The Defence Finance Manual Vol 4 lists the rates for non-Defence civilians in an officers’ and SNCOs’ mess as breakfast $17.85, lunch $19 and dinner $34.50.

Note, however, that these meals are provided by the Commonwealth on a full cost recovery basis. In other words, apart from the food, you are also being charged all the associated overheads and your payment is returned to the Commonwealth.

Second, mess fees are set by the mess committee, are banked into a non-public monies account and are expended by the mess committee in accordance with the mess constitution. Mess fees are in no way related to the cost of main meals in messes.

Any concerns you have with regards to mess fees should be directed to the mess committee. Lastly, your comment about APS members eating $4-$5 meals relates to bar meals, which are served at lunch time. Bar meals are an arrangement between the mess committee and the relevant civilian contractor operating the mess.

Under the current DECA it was agreed that APS staff could participate in this arrangement. Again, your concerns on this matter should be directed to your mess committee. I understand your concerns regarding meals for your family, however, as mentioned, meals for all non-Defence personnel must now be provided on a full cost recovery basis. Unfortunately this policy does not make an exemption for our direct families.

C’mon, pick up the pace

No time for strolling: Cpl James Field leads by example in Iraq during a regular PT session. Photo by LS Phil Cullinan

ANOTHER morning and another PT session involving a whole heap of abdominal exercises, upper body exercises and a run of some sort.

We usually complete the running bit around the unit or along the 2.4 track along the Lavarack Barracks’ fence boundary. As we set off on our run it’s not long before you notice all the walkers, or should I say strollers.

I’m in no way generalising as I am aware that some walkers actually walk the “brisk” walk that is required to pass the BFA walk element or improve your fitness and health, but a whole lot are strollers.

“Strollers” is a good word for them as they are not exercising in any form. Normally they travel in pairs or teams and stroll along chatting and enjoying the outstanding Townsville winter weather.

So why don’t these stroller stroll a little harder? There is very little health gain from a stroll. You might as well walk around “Stockies”. You have to walk at a brisk pace to have any effect.

Maybe it’s just to kill an hour during work. For those personnel who stroll, don’t think that the diggers running past you don’t notice the strolling or at the very least recognise you.

I challenge these strollers to go a little bit harder. You’ll no doubt find a significant improvement in your health, shape and general wellbeing. Sure some of you may have restrictions, but let’s pick up the pace.
WO2 Daniel Donald
4 Fd Regt
Lavarack Barracks

Engineer to end career

HAVING read with great interest the article “Engineers Get a Facelift” (Army, March 8), I have waited for the detail to emerge.

I have served for 21 years, both as an OR and an officer. I undertook an engineering degree, through ADFA under the NCO Commissioning Scheme (now the Other Ranks Engineering Commissioning Scheme), a privilege I am extremely grateful for.

I have sat back for the past few years watching my equivalent aeronautical engineer peers be given bonuses and offered other incentives, while mechanical, electrical and civil engineers were continually told that ground-based engineers will follow shortly.

I have recently been informed that the engineer pay case will apply to all officers within the corps of RAEME, RASIGS and RAE.
This is a slap in the face to those degree-qualified engineers who have hung around hoping equality will prevail.

While I have appreciated the politics behind it, I am extremely disappointed with the outcome and I will be voting with my feet and speeding up my resignation so I can separate more quickly.

With the current climate of retention, I find it hard to see the justification in this issue, as a five-year qualified engineer working for BHP gets a minimum of $96,000. What is a $3600 bonus going to stop?

I have now also decided not to transfer to the Reserve, as the bonus will not apply to Reserve engineering officers.

I have had enough; given proposed changes to tax regulations affecting DFRDB and MSBS, I have come to a disappointing end to what I considered a wonderful career.
Capt Mick McMillan
JLU-NQ
Lavarack Barracks