The cost of war

The going rate for a serving soldier who comes home from war suffering from "permanent severely impaired grip in both hands" is a £16,500 one-off compensation payment.  Probably just as well for the tax payer given the thirst for war Britain has had over the past five years or so.  To me that does seem a little low, however, seeing as the soldier will not be able to get employment in anything involving his hands again (just about everything, then).  There is the old argument that this is what they sign up to and they should expect the worse - but I'm still not sure that means they should be given a pretty insignificant pay off after their career has been reduced to invalid status.  Whether you agree that injured soldiers should get bigger pay-outs or not, this will put things in to perspective...

An RAF computer clerk who suffered a hand injury while typing in numbers has cost the Ministry of Defence £484,000 in damages and legal costs!  16 times more for typing injury than a soldier gets for taking one from the enemy.  In fact, a soldier will only get £28,750 for blindness in one eye, £57,500 for the loss of a leg and just £8,250 for injuries associated with surviving a gunshot wound to the torso. Yet some button pusher gets half a million!  While her injury was blamed on the data entry work she carried out, her de Quervain's tenosynovitis (as it is known) is so rare, no-one actually knows how she got it for sure anyway.  Even is a soldier had lost both legs and both arms, they would still only eligible for up to £285,000 - nowhere near the compensation pay out for the perils of typing in a few numbers on a key board.  No wonder front line troop numbers are falling, who would want to risk their life for sixteen grand when you could hit the jackpot typing numbers back in Blighty?