At first I thought this a troll, but looking at his history it looks genuine.
Why do some people go away for 4 months and some away for 2 years?
One is a detachment of which there are many, the other an overseas tour of which there are now few. One is usually a pain in the a*se, the other has been known to be fun.
Do you volunteer to go to places like the Falklands and cyprus or are you posted and for how long?
You can volunteer, but most are posted especially the Falklands, wonder why we still bother? We cannot afford it.
If based in the Uk do you get weekends off?
The majority do, but work gos on 365 days a year 24 hours a day, I have flown a 4 ship on Christmas Day because the boss thought it good for morale!!
I am based in scotland will i be able to board a RAF transport to the south if it was heading that way?
The answer here lies in "IF", to which I would expect yes, but usually it would be train, coach, car. plane at your expense.
Quality of life was a buzz word in the late eighties, now it is a long way down the list with Investors in paper and financial restraint keeping it there in a big way. I would encourage my son to join the forces, but those that have been around a while have known significantly better times regarding job satisfaction, respect, and motivation towards the job in hand. There is not too much support for Tonies army on tour in the Balkans living in cr*p accomodation with an iota of the perks that our NATO brothers get.
Yozzer