By Stephanie Bell
They are the brave female soldiers who deal with the cruellest side of war - -- the horrific injuries of their colleagues and civilians caught up in the bloody battles.
While they may not be fighting alongside their male colleagues on the frontline, the women medics of the Territorial Army's 204 Field Hospital (Reserve Volunteers) instead face a frantic battle to save lives behind the lines. Throughout the war in Afghanistan, the Northern Irish volunteers have been a vital support to the regular army in the busy field hospital in Helmand province.
Even with their unique medical experience in dealing with bomb and bullet casualties during the Troubles, these dedicated professionals will not have seen anything on the scale they encounter during their three-month deployment to Afghanistan.
The role of female soldiers has been put under the international spotlight after America recently announced it is to take the historic step of overturning a military ban on women serving in combat roles.
It's a move that could open thousands of fighting jobs to female soldiers in the American services for the first time. The decision came after increasing pressure from service women and activists on the Pentagon to acknowledge the reality that many women in the military already face combat on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the UK, under European Union equality rules, the issue of women's role in combat has to be reviewed every eight years.
The last review was in 2010, when Britain decided it would not change rules excluding women from infantry or combat teams.
As it stands in Britain, female soldiers are still prevented from entering into situations where they could 'en- gage and potentially kill the enemy'. Ministers said that while the skill and courage of female soldiers could not be questioned, group 'cohesion' could be compromised in intense battle situations.
The Ministry of Defence recently confirmed it has "no immediate plans" for a similar review to the one made in America. A spokesperson said that the "vast majority of roles" in the Armed Forces are open to women and acknowledged that hundreds of servicewomen are currently serving their country with distinction in Afghanistan. Women now account for 9% of personnel across the armed forces, and the figure is rising.
Research carried out a decade ago raised concerns about the ability of women in intense, hostile situations. A 2002 review revealed that just 1% of trained female soldiers had the physical fitness required to work on the frontline.
The study also found that women 'required more provocation and were more likely to fear consequences of aggressive behaviour'.
The ban has not stopped female soldiers from being killed in Afghanistan, where front lines are not clear and landmines and roadside bombs pose a real risk. Corporal Channing Day from Comber became the first female soldier from Northern Ireland to be killed in Afghanistan last October. The 25-year-old medic with 3 Medical Regiment was shot dead alongside a Royal Marine while on patrol in Helmand Province.
She died while overseeing the training of Afghan local police. At first it was thought she was the victim of a "blue on green" attack or she died as a result of "friendly fire". The army later reported that she had been killed in a fire fight when her patrol came under attack, from the Taliban or other forces opposing the foreign occupation of Afghanistan.
She was proud to be a soldier in the British army. Her family said she wanted to be a soldier from an early age and joined as soon as she left school, aged 16. It was the life she wanted. "She loved what she did and we are so proud of her," said her sister Lauren.
Channing was the third female British solider to have died in Afghanistan since 2001. A total of 435 British male soldiers have also lost their lives in the conflict During more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, women have served courageously and skilfully under fire.
We spoke to three local female soldiers who have served in the conflict. All officers with the TA, they spent three months in the war zone in 2008 serving as medics and witnessing the brutal reality of war.
Based at the field hospital in Helmand they talked about why they were eager to risk their own lives and leave home and family to help save the lives of their fellow troops. All three are experienced nurses in civilian life as well as dedicated fully trained soldiers with 204 Field Hospital. Courage and compassion led our soldiers to volunteer for what must be one of the most harrowing jobs on earth - -- treating victims of land mines, gun battles and bombs.
Helen Wilson (55) from Loughgall is a Major in the TA and also served in the Field Hospital in Afghanistan in 2008 as a trauma nurse co-ordinator. Helen is a regional manager for Four Seasons Healthcare in Northern Ireland, in charge of eight care homes. She is married to Jim (55) and has four children, Naomi (31), James (30), Bruce (29) and Rachel (25). She says: ? I trained as a registered general nurse in the 1970s. I joined the TA 10 years ago. It was a lifelong ambition but because of family commitments I never got the chance to do it earlier.
When I was a child I spent a couple of periods in hospital for minor operations and when I was in hospital an aunt gave me a book about Florence Nightingale. Ever since that I wanted to join the Queen Alexander Royal Army as a nurse.
I am now in my 11th year in the TA and it has been everything I had hoped and more. Joining later in life I thought I might not have a long career in the Army so I wanted to make every year count and so in 2003 I volunteered for Iraq. I was mobilised in 2004 to a field hospital there but at the time there were peace negotiations going on and things had settled down.
"Then in 2008 I went to Afghanistan as a Trauma Nurse Coordinator. As part of my role I was the only person in charge of clinical photography, taking pictures of all the soldiers being repatriated back home. If anyone died en route to hospital it was my job to record it as part of their repatriation back home.
"It was tough but I had worked in A&E at home during the Troubles, which was an experience which really helped. We had a great team and I was very honoured to be part of it. It was a 24-7 job and we saw some horrific sights and many amputees, some triple amputees.
"It is difficult leaving your family. I did ask my family if they minded and if they would support me. My children just said they knew how much I had wanted to do it and that they were happy for me to go. I kept in touch with them through regular emails and they did tell me afterwards that they were glad to see me home.
"Being a mum it was difficult to deal with the Afghan children who came into the hospital. You just wanted to hug them and often did. There was one little four-year-old girl called Salima who was with us the whole time and who we all fell in love with. We all took turns looking after her and for a long time we couldn't locate her family. She had abdomen injuries as a result of an improvised explosive device going off.
"When we did find her father we were worried if the man claiming her really was her father. As she was leaving she looked back at the nursing staff who had given her cuddles for three months and then she smiled at her father and that showed us for certain that he was who he said he was. It was very emotional, everyone was in tears." Joy McGrath (51) from east Belfast is a Lieutenant Colonel and a theatre nurse in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Joy, who joined the TA in 1985, spent three and a half months in the Field Hospital in Afghanistan in 2008 where she was the officer in command of the theatres. She has two children, Jamie (18) and Leanne (15). She says: ? I completed my nursing training in 1981 and joined the TA in 1985. I was young and wanted to do something different and the outdoors stuff in particular appealed to me.
My children were 10 and 12 years old when I was deployed to Afghanistan. There is an element of risk and it was difficult leaving my family. People are worried about you and you just have to try to reassure them.
I was a bit apprehensive about going to a war zone but at the same time there was some excitement at being able to do something different. Our day-to-day training in the TA, which shows us how to adapt to different situations, all came into play, as did my nursing experience. The Field Hospital was extremely busy. Just trying to cope with the vast amount of work and injuries we saw was a challenge and there was a lot of sleep deprivation. In 13 weeks we had 400 operations and over 1,000 admissions.
Some of the injuries were horrific. We had soldiers who had stepped on landmines or had their vehicles blown up. We also had locals caught up in the fighting and a lot of Afghan children, some who had stepped on landmines. We also looked after some of the Taliban - we provided healthcare for everyone .
It would be a difficult job for anyone but I think when you are a parent it is even harder, especially dealing with the young soldiers and the children. I had nursed through the Troubles in the Royal Victoria Hospital. and dealt with quite a lot of blast injuries and shootings, so I probably was more exposed to that side of it than some people. But the sheer volume of casualties made it difficult .
There were a lot of amputations with very young soldiers of just 18, 19 and 20 years old and children with burns injuries. I think being a nurse you are more able to deal with it as you are exposed to it in your profession and it's not a one-off thing; we have seen it all before. Having been to Afghanistan, I think it is something anyone who has done can be very proud of. When you see how well the system works and how well people are treated, it is a big honour to be part of that.
The medical care the soldiers are receiving is excellent and it is one of the best medical facilities in the world. At the end of the day it is what you train for and what you do as part of your medical service. As a woman You don't feel any different. in the TA, You're just part of one big team and there just like the men, to do a job.
Major Nuala Green (53) has been in the TA for 30 years and has been a nurse for 33 years. She is a vocational assessor for health care assistants in the Belfast Trust. Nuala is married to Paul (54) a civil servant and has two children, Timothy (22) and Andrew (20). She says: }I joined the TA shortly after qualifying as a nurse. I saw an advertisement in the Belfast Telegraph and thought it looked an interesting career move and I went for an interview and signed up there and then. If anybody had said then that I would still be there 30 years later I wouldn't have believed it. The camaraderie is brilliant; it's like one big happy family.
I went to Afghanistan in 2008 for three and a half months as an assessor for trainees doing their NVQs. These were health care assistants who were training on the job. It really is witnessing the harsh side of war -- .
It was interesting nursing the Afghan people because of their different culture. They didn't like to be told what to do by female nurses. They were people who didn't have electricity at home and it was a real culture shock for them to find themselves in a brightly- lit hospital. Many of them would not have had access before to professional medical care before, either.
Leaving my family was difficult but I knew the boys would be well cared for and I was lucky to have really good family support. The Field Hospital is in the middle of the desert and quite a distance from the frontline. but there is still risk involved. I'm glad to have been there and experienced it. I felt privileged to have helped in some small way. I had great colleagues and we knew we were giving the best care we could. ~ how the 204 Field Hospital has become a vital support unit for our frontline. troops Since the onset of the Gulf War in 2003, 204 Field Hospital has continually sent personnel on operations in support of the regular army.
In January of this year a Hospital Squadron was again deployed to Afghanistan. for threemonths. The unit had initially formed in Northern Irelandin May 1961 as 4 General Hospital (Territorial Army) and was set up as an independent medical unit of the Territorial Army's, with its Headquarters at Tyrone House, Malone Road, Belfast . The Commanding Officer, Colonel Gregg, five officers and 31 other ranks were transferred from the former 107 (Ulster) Field Ambulance.
By 1962, following an extensive recruitment campaign, it had become a large and experienced unit with several of its personnel having seen service in World War II. The 1960s saw a period of re- organisation, with the Territorial Army'sbecoming the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve. In 1967, 204 (North Irish) General Hospital Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) was formed as a successor to 4 General Hospital with its headquarters in Belfast with a detachment at Elm Lodge, Dungannon.
In the 1990s, Options for Change and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union meant re-organisation, with 204 becoming a 200- bed Field Hospital, having an active role in the multi-national ACE Rapid Reaction Corps. The detachment at Dungannon was moved to Armagh. Then in 1993, the Regimental Headquarters moved to its present home at Hydebank, a former centre used by the Royal Irish Rangers (Volunteers) .
A third detachment was formed in Newtownards in 1996 and in July 1999 The Field Hospital was divided into geographical Squadrons with the fourth Squadron being formed in Ballymena, giving a current footprint of Hydebank, Newtownards, Armagh and Ballymena.
Originally published by Stephanie Bell.
© 2013 Belfast Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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