How often does a soldier have to move to a new location? And for soldiers with children is there an exception? Thanks.

Steven R.

Light-role Infantryman

First of all I'd like to apologise for such a late response as I've been out of office on a training course.

This is definitely a question worth asking and as someone with a family I can completely understand why others would have concerns in this matter.

There is not usually a universally set time for every soldier to move from one place to another, it is completely variable depending on the unit. For example the one of our divisions has a commitment to have a battalion based in Cyprus, meaning the 3 regiments will rotate through the time they spend there, typically spending a couple of years based in Cyprus and then many more years based in the UK before re-deploying to Cyprus. There are some battalions that may be based somewhere for are long and indefinite amount of time due to convenience of training, for example if a battalion that uses tracked vehicles is based next to a location where these vehicles are allowed.

As you may imagine being a soldier means that you are a soldier first and everything else is secondary, we pride ourselves in selfless commitment. This does not however mean that you are just left to face any issues that come with this. There would be no problem with flagging up any issues you have with your relevant chain of command, most of the time a solution will be found so that both you and your unit are happy. I myself saw many issues when told we was moving to a different barracks. Those with welfare concerns were however easily rectified. Some were given a posting so they could be near their home, some were able to move battalion and some were even able to transfer to the Regiment that was moving in to our barracks so that the individual did not have to move at all.

There is housing available to all soldiers and officers nearby every barracks you are based in, these are available to those who are married or in a civil partnership. There will always be a numerous amount of individuals to discuss any welfare issues with and you can trust fellow colleagues to help rectify an issue if it can be.

Hope this helps and let me know if there's anymore questions for me. Best regards and good luck in your future career choice.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

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