National Common Courtesy Day 2025 is on Friday, March 21, 2025: Yank visiting Scotland asking about courtesy?

Friday, March 21, 2025 is National Common Courtesy Day 2025. March 21st is NATIONAL COMMON COURTESY DAY! « The Irvin ... National Common Courtesy

Generally Americans are liked by Scottish people (at least on an individual basis, your government isn't very popular among some people) so there's nothing to really worry about.

There's nothing you can really do to annoy people in Scotland that wouldn't annoy anybody else in the world, common courtesy is all that's required.

You'll probably find that the Scottish come across as less polite in some ways than the Americans (we tend not to use words like "sir" in the same way some Americans do), but this is more of a cultural thing than being impolite. We are generally quite happy to talk to strangers when they're in pubs and bars.

Also, the Glaswegian accent makes us sound like we're angry at everyone all the time, so don't worry about it. If you want to make friends make reference to the poor performance of English sports teams, or their general inferiority to us (it's a mostly friendly rivalry).

Finally, when in Glasgow, try to stay in the west end and city centre. There's not as much crime as the news likes to report, but the east end and, to a lesser extent, the south side are the rougher areas. Edinburgh (or the bits you're likely to see) is by and large all a nice area in my experience.

Enjoy your stay!

i pre enlisted for the national guard?

The initial training - basic and advanced individual training is not that bad. You have to learn to work with a team and how to accept responsibility for your actions. The problem that some teens have is that they are not used to being told what to do. Many teens have the habit of asking why and in the military you do not do this. You do what you are told to do, when you are told to do it and how you are told to do it. If you can do this, basic will not be much of a problem. The other issue that you have to deal with is the lack of privacy. When you are in basic, you will be in barracks. You might be in a bay with 30 or more people or you might be in a squad room with 4 or five other people. It can take a couple of days for everyone to realize that they have to work together. In addition, you have to give up habits like constant cell phone use or smoking.

Things lighten up a little when you go to ait (your job training). You will still have drill sgts but you will have a little more free time. What gets some people in this phase is the academic portion of the training. People think that you just join the army and that you do not have to read or study and it is just the opposite. You will be taught by sgts and you will be expected to know the material and you will be tested on it. It is not impossible to pass ait but you will have to do some work.

After your training is done, you will go back home and drill with your NG unit. You will be assigned to either a platoon or section depending on your mos (military occupational skill). Your drill weekend is basically broken into 4 - 4 hour blocks of training with lunch in the middle. You will have mos training, section training (for instance you might be assigned to a motor pool and you will help with preventative maintenance on vehicles), collective training and individual training. Collective training is training that you unit needs to do as a unit in order to be mission capable. Individual training or common skills training refers to soldier skills. For instance, your unit may schedule gas mask training during a drill weekend. If your unit is scheduled to go the riffle range, you will do weapons training. Training is actually planned out a year ahead of time and you can look at your units training schedule to see what training will take place. It is actually a good idea to check the schedule so you can also plan accordingly. Remember that some weekends will also include Friday nights. This usually only happens once or twice during a training year. Keep in mind that a training year runs from October to September.

Every year you will attend a two week annual training. This is where your unit goes to a training facility that may be in your state or it could be else where. I was with a unit that went overseas to places like Korea, Turkey and Panama. Most guard units stay state side. Annual training is between 12 to 14 days. If you are traveling far away, it may be a little longer to accommodate travel time. While you are on annual training, you are treated as if you are on active duty. That means that you are held to personal grooming standards and military courtesy standards. You are also subject to military law during these periods. If you have a major life event that would take place during annual training, getting married, having a child or a major business deal your unit might let you do a home station annual training. You would stay at home and you would do tasks that are assigned to you. In all honesty, home station annual trainings are boring.

You do understand that you can and probably will be activated during your initial contract. Currently, the NG is deployed all over the place in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. These are federal operations. What happens is that your unit is activated and it falls under federal control. Typically these deployments are 12 months but you can be extended if the mission requires it. The NG and reserves do a much better job in preparing soldiers for activation now than 10 years ago. Your unit is typically put on alert a year of more before deploying and that means that your training will revolve around getting you and your unit ready to deploy. You are paid for the time that you are activated and you also get a retirement point for each day served on active duty.

The NG can also be activated by the state for emergencies. For instance, much of the east coast had huge snow storms. Most of the state's activated their NG units. Soldiers helped with snow removal, emergency medical services and search and recovery missions. You also get paid for state service and you get a retirement point for each day served.

I have probably gone over a lot in a little space but the best advice that I have for you is that you need to be flexible. Things will change and you will have to adapt. You will need to not be overly sensitive either. You will make mistakes in basic and ait and even when you train with your unit. The best thing that you should do is to learn from your mistakes and move on. The few people who I knew who fa

Entitlement to Dutch Benefits as UK national?

Well your friend has entitlements too both work and benefits under current EU law. However, as elsewhere in Europe work is not easy to come by and as she has no language skills it will be highly unlikely that she will get anything other than very basic unskilled work. She is obliged (I believe this is still current?) to report and register with the police upon arrival. I know this was a requirement in the 70s when I used to work in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. I imagine her friends would know the rules and would guide her in that respect?

Talking of friends, surely they are better placed to offer her any advice and tips she may need to access both work and/or benefits? After all, I assume they are Dutch nationals and as such will know the best way to access information?

I think your friend has gone about this all wrong and she should have sought advice from her local Job Centre before embarking on this trip. It's all very well viewing the World through those rose tinted specks that she was wearing the day she chose this move, but the reality is Holland is a pretty hard country to live in without a decent chain of friends. And whilst English is almost universally spoken as a second language there is still a need to learn the basics of the Dutch one. It is not only helpful, but also common courtesy to talk to the locals in part, in their own tongue.

My advice is for her to think about returning to the UK and get a few ideas before going back to Holland.