anyone have experience of the RFA?

[Nointhemood]

Dh left the navy a few years ago and to be honest things aren't working out on the job front. He's still working away but for alot less pay. We don't want to go back to the navy life as we really didn't see each other and to be honest they were taking the piss as we couldn't make plans. He was literally home for a few leave periods and then the rest at sea. We were looking at other options and come across the RFA 1, because it could mean that ds could earn good money again, 2 because it seems more settled then navy life i.e 4mth deployments and then 89 days off and also they seem will to train people up which means dh could get more out of them. This is what it says on their web page anyhow but what is the reality of this??? We are not opposed to spendung some time aprt but we do want a balance iywim.

I know a few people who joined the RFA after leaving the regular Navy, worked well for all of them as far as I can see and it's on DH's list of jobs when he leaves in 3yrs time.

Sorry I'm not much help.

DH's uncle was in the RFA until he retired. From what I remember, he was often away a lot longer than 4 months. When the last Gulf War was on, he was away for up to 8 months at a time and his wife wasn't allowed to know where he was and just had to wait for him to call when he could.

What did your DH do in the navy? Mine used to be in merchant navy (he's a marine engineer by trade) and he started off on cargo ships then worked on cruise ships for a couple of years as an engineering officer. That was 4 months on, 2 months off. Money was good and I was allowed to sail with him too (with restrictions on board, but when you're on a 5 star cruise ship who cares!) He then moved to work in the North Sea on standby ships - month on, month off. Not sure if any of that helps!

My dh is an officer in the RFA. Ratings and officers have the same leave ratio. He has been away for the last four months and is now home on leave till sept. However some trips have been around UK coast so we have been able to see him, ds and I have stayed on ship occasionally in port.

ah thankyou for the replies.Sounds promising. He was a weapons engineer but would like to do something different in enginnering this time so he can use it in civvy life if he needs to. Sailorsgal what are the RFA like to work for and whats the longest your dh has been away for? The navy were very unpredictable and constantly calling dh into work even when they were time off i really never saw him. I want something thats more settled so we know where we are and can plan things.Also were they quite good about allowing families to fly out etc?

oh just saw that you stayed on ship didnt realise that was allowed=god they seem alot more family friendly!

DH never gets called back to work when he is on leave. He may have to do a course this time but not until end of August.

Last year he was a temp acting chief officer and was away 6 months but is normally only away 4 months which actually isn't too bad.

I've met wives who have sailed with their partners around the Caribbean.

If you have an email I could get dh to email your dh if he wanted to ask anymore questions.

NITM - just for the record - the RN is a fighting organisation, where you know that you are call 24/7, 365 irrespective of leave. If you want to be able to predict your life, get him to get a nice office job 9-5, then you're sorted.

As Board bunny points out, the RFA exists to support the RN, so that when the shit hits the fan, it will all be unpredictable again.

From the MoD website about the RFA:
'Because RFA ships are often required to operate in war zones in support of the RN, most have a limited weapons-fit for self-defence.' As a WE he would be OK, but you are going to get unpredicted deployments, or long deployments, depending on what exercise/deployment they are supporting at that time.