was it hard leaving your mother, loved ones and family for so long especially at the start...if so how did you cope?

Good question, and one that probably 99% of the people going though phase 1 will think of. For me, I was 16 when I joined and phase 1 was the first time I was away from home for a certain length of time. As its a change from the norm, it took a while to get used to. However, everyone around you is going through the exact same thing. You'll still get phone calls home and things like that so it's not like you can't speak to them at all. Tbh, this isolation period we are going though now could be more testing for some people. In training though you will be very busy as expected each day so time to actually think about home is minimal. Another thing to mention is this.... Your phase 1 length will end up being such a small percentage of your time in the forces and you'll look back on it thinking about some of the funny things you've done. Hope that helps 👍🏻