LEVELS OF SEPARATION


As expected, operational deployments were the cause of most periods of separation, followed by training or promotion courses, see Figure 13. Anecdotal evidence offered during workshops held in Scotland highlighted that for them the location of many courses caused additional angst for families, with many commenting that the additional travelling time meant some personnel were unable to return home for weekend breaks from longer residential courses.


“In addition to operational deployments, a requirement to attend training and promotion courses and cover jobs at other locations because of manpower shortages there meant I was away from home for 8 of the last 12 months.”


“We, as a family, have supported each other through many periods of separation. This current deployment of 12 months will be a test of the family bonds and 21 years of marriage. Often it is the impact when the family is reunited that causes most friction.”


“It is an expected part of Service life; its hard work on both sides but we deal with it. More support for those on small units would be appreciated, large units seem to get all the help and funding whilst small units are left to struggle.”


“The longest stint in one block was a deployment but his courses leading up to the deployment were actually the same length of time, meaning that he was away for nearly a year.”


“Our family suffered from only seeing each other at the weekends, the children’s stability suffered greatly and we had to have relationship counselling to overcome the strain of living so far apart.”


www.raf-ff.org.uk


17


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28