futures❵PROFILE
Sally (pictured on the far right), a rescue helicopter
Sally’s war I
futures_summer12.indd 16
After graduation, Sally Boor (Paramedic Science, 2007) took a rather different path to many of her fellow graduates. This is her honest and frank account of her experiences over the past year.
was called up by the RAF reserves to do a three month tour on the Medical Emergency Response
Team (MERT) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan during the busy summer period, with temperatures nudging 500°c.
First, I undertook three months of pre-deployment training whereby I learnt basic soldiering skills and attended a variety of courses such as battlefield advanced trauma life support (BATLS) and evading capture.
In mid-May, I flew out to Bastian via Dubai. As we descended in darkness wearing body armour and helmets, the pilot cut out the internal lights and I started to realise what I was getting myself into! I was taken to my tent at about 2am and tried to get my head down after my 24 hour journey. However, three hours after falling asleep I was woken by the ground shaking followed by a loud explosion, and that was followed up with rapid gunfire. I scrambled underneath my bed and tried to get my armour and helmet on, the air raid siren began to wail and I didn’t know what to do other than duck! The MERT does 24 hours on, 24 off. Our busy time was dusk and dawn because this was the predominant time for patrol movement and most of our missions were in the green zone. We did very little at night other than the occasional transfer from a forward operating base to Bastian.
The helicopter we used is the size of a bus and it has two pilots, two loadies (loadmasters), four Force Protection RAF Regiment soldiers, a doctor, two paramedics and a nurse. The bread and butter of the job, unfortunately, are double amputees, which we saw daily.
The nature of the job varied according to the capability of the enemy at any given time so it was very dynamic. The job was also very tactical, however, as you face a number of threats from things such as surface to air missiles, small arms fire, booby trapped landing sites, IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and suicide bombers posing as patients. We tried to stay one step ahead with drills such as evasive flying but it was difficult to predict what was coming next... I saw many acts of heroism there from the soldiers in the battlefield. One IED took out a whole patrol of seven, leaving them all severely wounded. They were all deafened from the blast and one was blinded too, but despite being deaf and blind he still took a corner of the stretcher to carry his friend to safety. On the whole, I have a positive outlook on this experience although obviously I did have tough days and I was anxious most of the time! You don’t want to be running through a field to hear on the radio “someone get that sniper!” But one thing I have learnt is that no matter what happens or where you are the people around will look after you and get you through it and you’ll do the same for them. Anything is achievable... Now I’m back to reality working as an NHS paramedic. But never one to conform or sit still I am currently undertaking a trial in the City of Cambridge. I have spent the last few months manning an ambulance bicycle or Cycle Response Unit (CRU) tearing through the streets of Cambridge to attend 999 emergencies. The nature of the work is, of course, a little different to what I was doing last summer but this doesn’t bother me as all I try and do is strive to do what all good doctors, nurses and paramedics
do...to make that difference... f❵
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14/04/2012 18:05
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