whats the married quarters really like?

[YouNeverKnowIMightFlounce]

dh and i both applying to join army. w e are married with 2 dds

what are schools and houses really like?

thanks!

yes upto moving abroad.. not sure how the options work though?

Blimey -£675 a month here for MQ and CILOCT.

Call me cynical but I feel like this is going to end up in the NOW!

I don't know why - just something in my water.

I think if you were both in the Army you would find it really hard, especially with such young children.

I was in the Navy but left after having DD1 as my DH, also in the Navy, was away so much and I would have been drafted as well (I was a nurse). We have no family to help out so it just wouldn't have worked. Not only do you have your day to day job, you have duties (24-48 hours), courses, training updates (which could be anywhere in the country) as well as the likelihood of being drafted/deployed/posted. And of course at the moment just about everyone is getting rotated in and out of Afghan and Iraq, regardless of branch.

In my experience my friends who have stayed in the military have been able to do so because their husband is a civvie or they have huge amounts of family help, ie parents who can have their child/ren for up to 6 months at a time. One woman I joined up with rarely sees her husband (also Navy) as she goes away for 3 months, whilst he has their son, then when she comes home he deploys for 3 months. Not my idea of fun

hf128219, that was another deciding factor in buying our own house and moving out of MQ.

It's an awful lot of money to pay out each month!

thanks sidge thats a helpful post

£675 to have the MQ's and do the council tax?
we pay £920 at home where we are now

For a moment forget all the facts and figures and ask yourself - do you really want to join the Army - are you up to the challenge, mentally and physically?

There are plenty of other jobs that pay as well that don't involve weekend working/6 month tours.

I am not trying to put you off!

No probs, sorry to sound so negative but just wanted to share my experience.

If it's any consolation after I left I have always been able to work, and with DH being Navy we have been far more stable than we would have been if we were Army. We have been lucky enough to stay in one place for years, meaning I can work, the children can stay in their schools and we have bought our own house. Obviously DH goes away a lot but it's him that gets moved (from ships to base etc) rather than the whole family. There's always the chance that we will get drafted away from here but as DH works on aircraft carriers and they are based in Portsmouth the chances are fairly slim!

thats just the thing though. there really are'nt (sp?)lots of jobs and certainly not on wage dh is used to. we've looked. and with the redundancy and many friends now gone at work its very real
the army could be a fresh start for us.

it does remember depend on your rank, type of housing and standard of housing, we pay under £200.00

The Navy is fun, not as much chance of being sent to Afghan/Iraq, might happen though. You dont move about as much either as there are fewer bases.

Just throwing a few ideas around!

as for married quaters i think standards have changed a fair bit since i was in them !
first one in 1980 and last one in 1992 we them bought our own as then it was cheaper to buy and have a morgage than live in married quaters lol
well anyway the married quaters then the standards were very high and they were excellent like if we were moving out it was the white cloves muster when we moved in and out and that was the navy
we lived in a few married quaters if you live in the uk kids normally go to normal school but when we lived abroad our children when to a service school and they were excellent to but like sad i think thngs hae changed now for the worse tbh

Also, financial implications aside, are you prepared for not seeing your dh for months at a time.
Dh is navy and I don't have any experience of army life. Since joining his new ship in August, he's been away for 2 months, back for a couple of weeks, will be going away again in the New Year, again only for a few months, back for about 1, then deploys for 7 months.
So out of approx 16 months, he will spend 12 months at sea.

Don't worry- hf's husband is an officer. Like I said, we pay £60 rent for a 3 bed, £89 ciloct and £15 for a garage; total of £164 per month! We live in a fantastic area and have a lovely house which is graded low because of local amenities.

Smallships, dh(navy) has been to somewhere hot and sandy and is likely to go back again, although not for a while!

My DH has been out there twice this year and will be back there begining off 2010 i just thought he was unlucky!

Dh says it because the army are so overstretched that more and more navy will be deployed out there.

I did hear on the grapevine that the crews on the decommisioning destroyers are all being sent out there!

oh dear.

god that took 5 mins for me to post!
im on mobile broadband and its painfully slow at the minute!

grrr

i know that there are lots of +'s and -'s and im weighing them all up.

i was and still am quite prepared to go and join myself but one of us needs to be home for girls

Isn't life great with the RN?

got used to him being on black tubes, then based in London for 3 years, then back to ships. Never thought that he would be off to a desert!!

Along with others who have posted on here, I would agree that the services can offer an awful lot...but no way on this earth would I have joined at same time as DH with 2 small children. I am ex RN and DH is still in - he is now quite senior (old ) and unlikely to go to sea again...but since he came shore side he has been away a lot and is off in a couple of weeks for another 10 day trip. A 6 month trip to Hot and sandy (Iraq / Afganistan) land is reasonably likely in the next year or so. This is fantastic - he spent the whole of his first 12 years at sea, so in comparison it is pretty good!

Work out what you really want. If it is the forces I suggest that one of you goes for it and the other does the supporting (with job as necessary). I am no expert on pay / charges, but we could certainly manage on DH pay alone living in MQ.

RN life... well atleast its never dull lol. 5 years left, last sea draft starts next year, just 5 more years!!

I think even the basic pay is quite good now. We manage well out of MQs on DHs wage. He is a senior, senior rate, especially with sea pay and get you home pay.

I know that this is a completely random post, but can I just say how nice this thread has been tonight.
I've been on mumsnet quite a while, have never posted all that much but recently, well I probably don't need to say anything do I?
just wanted to say thanks as was thinking about leaving but what else would I do every evening

i just feel that it can offer us so much, i will have another talk with dh about me maybe not joining. doubt he will have prob with that but i dont want him to think that i am pushing it on him iykwim??

i can always go for it in a bit im only just about to turn 24