Whilst deployments have on paper reduced, commitments remain as high as ever. On the whole the Service can have minimal impact on family life as most are used to the tempo at which we operate but after time this wears thin and relationships are tested.
I am an RAF spouse. I am also a professional person in my own right. Moving house frequently makes having a meaningful career (with progression etc) almost impossible. When my husband was posted overseas for 18 months, I had to leave a good job. I found it hard to get appropriate work, and it cost our family a lot in terms of salary/pension that I missed out on. It is time that the military realised that not all spouses are doing “little jobs”- a lot of us are actually highly skilled.
Six month detachments and no R&R. Not good.
Fewer people, less money but more work to do mean more stress which puts strain on relationships.
The main disadvantage is accommodation. SFA is abysmal... I can’t say it any clearer than that. Respectable private sector landlords would not be able to get away with the shoddy maintenance provided.
Increased accommodation charges for decreasing standards of accommodation. Long working hours over extended periods due to under manning and over work leave precious little time for any sort of quality of life outside of work
My husband’s service means that it is extremely difficult to plan holidays and day to day family events. He is frequently away at virtually no notice. It is then impossible to get babysitters etc. I therefore gave up good career to be the constant in our children’s lives.
The hours are so long my husband may as well be on deployment. He feels guilty for taking leave and when he does his phone is constantly going off with work related issues. The poor man has no down time and quality of work life balance extremely poor.
Main advantage seems to be job satisfaction. We have lived apart for some years to give the children stability - but of course this has an impact on family life, as would never send them to boarding school. Nevertheless we enjoy good quality of life and enjoy being part of the RAF wider family.
The lack of a real terms pay rise over the last 5 years has left us poorer.
My husband works in excess of 60 hours per week, starting at 7:00am and finishing anywhere between 6:00- 9:00 PM this is having a huge impact on our family.
As a wife we know what we sign up for but there has to be balance and for us there isn’t any. I try to hold everything together whilst looking after two young children and working and there comes a breaking point it’s when it affects the children and you constantly have to pick up the pieces of them missing their father. We can’t even manage to get a full week together for a holiday when their dad has been out of the country for 7 months.
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www.raf-ff.org.uk
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