The RAF is active all over the world so we can offer great opportunities for travel. Although you’ll probably spend much of your working life in the UK, most roles will involve spending some time overseas. Typically, at any one time almost 10 per cent of RAF personnel are overseas.

But travel can mean different things

Lee Tierney
Environmental Health Technician

‘Because the RAF expects so much of you sometimes, you get a lot in return. I spent two months working in Kenya, in quite demanding conditions – working hard in very high temperatures. But while I was there I learned to scuba dive in my spare time and even went on safari.’

Long term

In some cases, you’ll travel with your whole unit or squadron and stay for a tour of duty, or until an essential operational mission is completed. This could be:

• A posting for two or three years to a permanent base with full-time RAF personnel. The RAF’s main permanent overseas base is Akrotiri, in Cyprus. There are others in Canada, the Falkland Islands, Ascension Island and Gibraltar.
• An operational deployment – for example, six months in the Falkland Islands or the Middle East. Recent operations involving RAF personnel have taken place in the Middle East, Afghanistan, the Balkans and Sierra Leone.

Jenni Niddrie
Personnel Support

‘I’ve recently returned from a tour of duty in Ascension Island: 16 months on a gorgeous tropical paradise, playing golf in the sun and beach parties in the evenings – but even in the UK there’s a lot going on: I’ve been surfing in Cornwall and am looking to go on a skiing trip in the near future. You don’t get that in an average nine-to-five job.’

Short term

Overseas duty can also involve being one of a small team dedicated to a particular job. For example:

• An overnight aeromedical evacution flight, from the UK abroad and back.
• A disaster relief mission – such as the help we gave to victims of the earthquake in Pakistan.

Sally Jenkins
Flight Operations Assistant

‘Straight after the war, I went to Iraq for three months to help set up Basra international airport. It was a bit scary being out there but I wanted to go because I love being away.’

Being separated from your family while on duty overseas is always difficult – often especially for those left behind – but we do everything we can to make it easier. For example, we make sure you can keep in touch and we organise strong support networks, including nurseries, for families of RAF personnel serving abroad.

For more details, including how it works if you have a family, see Life overseas.