How often do you see your friends and family from home?

Hi,

You can see friends and family as often or as little as you want. Most soldiers will get time off at the weekend to travel home if they want to. A lot of soldiers will stay on the barracks though and socialise in the local area with the new friends they have made in their unit.

When I was based in Germany I travelled back to the UK 3 or 4 times a year, now I am based in the UK, much like most of the army, I get to see family much more regularly. I have a small part of my family with me as I am married with a young son, but I do travel to see the wider family once a month.

I hope this helps.

Greg

My boyfriend is training for the paras now and he will be away for 7 months. He is in Yorkshire now.
Will they treat him right over there?

Hi Grace,

Of course they will. Training is tough and there will be times where he will feel that the whole world is against him. But the reality is that everything the instructors do is for his benefit in the long run.

When I first joined the army I was in a relationship with a girl who I thought would understand the pressures I was under, but unfortunately didn't. It's great that you have come on here asking a question like this as it already shows your desire to support him.

I have been married for nearly 10 years now and I am extremely lucky. My wife understands the demands and pressures of living in the army world and supports me 100%. If I can give you a little advice though; be supportive of him and understanding of the demands placed on him by the army. Sometimes he will not be able to come home and those decisions are out of his hands. Just enjoy the time that you do get together.

Knowing that you have support back home is half the battle and makes being away and dealing with the rigours of training a little more bearable.

Good luck to both of you and keep going. The rewards will be there in the end.

Hi grace,

Once in training at ITC catterick he will be home more than you think. Once he has completed his basic training (14 weeks) he will have a leave period of usually 2 weeks then the ability to travel home on weekends if there isn’t anything on the programme.

As Greg mentioned above, training is meant to be tough. The learning curve is very steep and he will be very busy but training is nothing like the army. Once he has passed out he will be home a lot more, stick with it!

Regards
J

I'm worried about being away from my daughter for long periods of time with her being so young and will miss her?

Josh, sadly only you know how much you will miss your daughter.

For me, I have a young son and whenever I am away I speak to him via telephone or video call. There are so many ways of staying in contact nowadays that the only thing I miss out on is the physical connection. I get to read him bedtime stories, talk to him about his day and he can show me things that he has drawn or made. Having a young family and being away can require you to adapt the way you interact with your children, but it does not make it any less special.

Plus, remember, we are not always deployed. After training you will get most weekends off and you get 6 weeks paid leave per year.

This is such a popular question that people ask. Many people have the misconception that being in the army means you live and breathe the army, that you live behind 'the wire', live in a 'block' with other soldiers. The reality is, once phase 1 training is complete (14 weeks as a soldier, 44 wks as an officer) where you don't get to see your friends and family that often (although you do have a few long weekends) you can choose how / where you live. Once you are at a Regt / unit what you do on weekends or evenings is up to you! Unless you are on duty, on exericse or ops etc etc you can live off camp, you can be a member of local civi sports teams and gyms (although there's a free gym on camp!), you could be in a band and play in pubs etc etc exactly as you would do as a civi. In the Army, if you are not on duty, exercise ops etc, you generally finish around lunch time on a Friday and have a late start (1030am) on a Monday - this allows for safe travel to and from 'home' or seeing friends and family. It's a great life and we probably have more flexibility (when not away) than most do. I hope this helps dispel some myths.