It was widely felt that the MoD and government do not appreciate how important pensions are to Service personnel – one young JNCO commented that ‘It was
one of the main reasons he signed up’ and he was now considering his long-term future with the RAF.
Impact of Service life on the RAF family
As in previous years, we asked voters to tell us about how their family lives were impacted because they are part of the Armed Forces.
We continue to receive evidence from families who are spending considerable time apart because of their military commitments. In addition to the separations owing to operational deployments, 22% of voters told us that the serving member of their family also spent between six-twelve months away because of ‘non- operational deployments’, such as pre-deployment training, exercises and courses. This has a major impact on the family at home, with many spouses/partners unable to work or establish regular childcare routines because of the uncertain nature and short-notice of many deployments.
Comments made to the team at some units highlighted that, even though the serving member of the family may only be away for 2-3 weeks at a time, usually this was at very short-notice and occurred on a regular basis. Families raised concerns that they were unable to access the usual deployed welfare package on station because their partners were not away for continuous lengthy
periods. They asked the Federation to highlight that they still faced the same worries and problems as other spouses/partners whose serving family members might be deployed for 4-6+ months.
It is acknowledged that, within the military, there are a growing number of families who opt to live apart during the week, primarily so that the family can establish their own home and ensure continuity for their children’s’ education and/or spouse employment opportunities. 42% of voters told us that this type of separation has had an impact on their family life and relationships, with many families facing problems adjusting to the serving person returning home for relatively short periods of time each week.
With the on-going review of Future Accommodation within the Armed Forces, and options for home ownership being promoted by the MoD, we can only anticipate that this type of separation may lead to additional stress on relationships, especially if more families are encouraged to settle in one particular area of the country, which may be away from the RAF community support network.
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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