Originally Posted by Odigron
...I have no difficulty accepting that your neighbour's son loves all the time at sea. Nearly all young service personnel I have met love the time away in the beginning. But how long will he love it for? Another 5 years, 10 years, more? People's circumstances change, they get married, they have children and their love of spending time away can often dwindle...
What makes you assume this man is young and single? Ships are manned (and wo-manned) by older married officers, warrant officers and senior rates, too. Perhaps he is living in MQs and saving to buy a house before he leaves the RN?
As for:
...I also suspect that an RN deployment is rather 'cushier' than most 6 month army deployments...
Less hazardous maybe but "cushier"? Try telling that to those working 6 on/6 off in defence watches for months on end without the opportunity to take an afternoon off, wander into a McDonalds, kick a football around the square or have a few zeds in the sun. Or to these fellows who are currently spending the best part of ten months at a time submerged in a sardine tin:
This is the Trafalgar Class SSN Turbulent which is currently away for 10 months. When Triumph returns next year, she’ll have been away for 13 of the previous 17 months. Their sister boat Tireless completed a ten-month deployment in the spring.
Sometimes, the differences in the services, and their ethos, are really laid bare.