RAF Return of Service vs PVR
 

This has been discussed at length before but has a consensus ever been reached? I've seen a lot of barrack-room lawyering but never a definitive on whether one can be held to a return of service or not? Does anyone actually know people who have left before the end of a return of service?

Some of the factors out there include:
- RoS for your first or subsequent OCUs.
- RoS for ACSC.
- RoS because you took a FRI.
- You signed a form indicating you understood there was a return of service.
- Does it depend on your trade group / branch?

It is not easy and whilst a number have been able to break free from an RoS the RAF have been careful to attribute these to individual circumstances rather that set any precedence.

My advice is to study the exact rules. Not the ones you think you know or have heard from a mate, but the exact rules word for word.

A good place to start is with the MoD rules on RoS. Learn and understand them and then surrender any realistic possibility of challenging them. No really, just give up as you would never win anything no matter what a lawyer would tell you. Again, give up right now.

Then learn and understand the RAF rules. Appreciate where they are different from the MoD rules, focus on how or why they are different and on what organisation awarded itself powers that go so far beyond what the MoD thinks is justifiable. From this point on you will be able to form an argument that suits your circumstances in a manner that does not challenge the wider MoD or the higher echelons of the RAF.

Did I sound negative regarding challenging the MoD - yep. Is there an argument to be won over an RoS set by Manning - that is for you to form but it is worthy of your time.

Good luck.

I left last month with a RoS that I had for an MA that the RAF paid for. When I asked to skip the last 7 weeks of my RoS there was some sucking of teeth. I was granted my request only because my work could spare me and my new employer wanted me to start early, and on the understanding that others weren't quite so lucky.

If I'd just wanted to leave because 'I felt like it', I get the feeling that Manning would have played hard-ball.

And, yes, there will be the barrack-room lawyers on here who say that it means nothing and that they can't hold you to a RoS, but it's far, far easier said than done.

There's a RoS for ACSC? How long, and can RoS' be served in the Reserve?

Is there a ruling that after serving 30 years you can not be held to ROS?

Used to be easy...just say you were gay!

Do a Flt Lt Klinger number perhaps?

Catch 22 - you have to be mad to do it in the first place.