Can you maintain a work life balance?

[Bulldog]

Hi im trying to gather if the Army is for me and want to know if you can maintain a work life balance in the Paras? I live at home and haven't lived away from my parents before. I worry that if I join the Army and I won't get home very much. Not that that’s a problem but how likely am I to be able to keep a life outside of the Army? Thanks for reading lads

 

[Redders]

I can honestly say that if I couldn't balance my life and the Reg I wouldn't have stayed in for as long as I did. But you’ll find that the Reg becomes your life if that makes sense? You’ll gain a load of new mates and you’ll naturally end up mixing with them outside of the working day. The vast majority of the time we worked a normal working week. With late starts on Mondays and early finishes on Friday depending on what your company is up to. Obviously we have to go away and sometimes in theory it could be at short notice, but that's what we joined for. Paras prefer being out in the field. Families are well supported in our absence. You’ll be fine and you’ll love it.

 

[Mackers]

I don't have kids, but many of the blokes do. I know plenty of lads who are happy with their work/life balance, but I know some who are leaving in order to spend more time with their families. I guess it comes down to individual circumstances. But as Redders says you will soon leave that civvie lifestyle behind and you genuinely will make new best mates.
I’d say don’t rush to join so young. You are only 16 so give yourself more time to grow and get your teenage years out of your system. You’ll do much better with a little bit of life behind you.

 

[DannyMac]

At the moment there seems to be more short term deployments than long term deployments (6 months +) at the moment anyway

 

[Tony_m]

Plus, remember, you will not always be deployed or away. You’ll prob have more downtime than you think! It’s not worth crying about. After Depot you will get most weekends off and you get 6 weeks paid leave per year which normally works out as Xmas, Easter and summer block leave!