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‘Nothing can prepare them for the sheer horror of the real thing’
Terry Kirby12 Oct 2009
Every day they do demanding jobs as doctors, nurses, radiographers, paramedics or anaesthetists at hospitals in and around London.
But nothing can quite prepare them for the “sheer horror” of their other lives as Army reservists on a very different front line, treating the victims of the bloody conflict in Afghanistan.
Later this week, 90 reservists from the 256 City of London Field Hospital (Volunteers) will leave for a three-month deployment taking them away from their families and loved ones over Christmas. They will spend the festive season in the heat and dust of Helmand province, working at the British military hospital at Camp Bastion.
They have been undergoing rigorous advance training at the Royal Army Medical Corps facility at Strenshall in North Yorkshire, which aims to mirror the often taxing conditions of the hospital at Camp Bastion using simulated battlefield casualties enacted by Army veterans who have themselves lost limbs in the conflict.
But nothing can compare with the real thing, said commanding officer Colonel Peter Gilbert, a former full-time Army medical corps officer who is now a family doctor in Rochester.
Experienced casualty nurses from hospitals such as the Royal London in Whitechapel, which operates the helicopter-born trauma unit, had been “rendered speechless” by what they experienced in conflict, he said.
“It is a completely different order of magnitude. You can never really prepare them for the weight of numbers, the impact and the sheer horror of the real thing,” he said.
But Col Gilbert added that since all TA members were also given considerable training in combat conditions, they knew something of what to expect.
He said: “It's like training infantryman while never knowing exactly how they will react in battle. It is the same with medical staff — you hope the training kicks in and get on with the job.”
The hospital at Camp Bastion has become one of the world's leading centres for trauma care, which has helped improve survival rates of those whose injuries might otherwise prove fatal. “We will do our best to maintain that record and hopefully improve on it,” he said.
Although the majority of those treated are British troops, the injured from other coalition forces are also cared for as well as Afghan security forces and local people caught in the crossfire. Injured Taliban fighters are also given the same level of care.
Many of those critically injured are then transferred to the special unit at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, which cares for severely injured troops.
Reader views (2)
and what does our governmetdo? They suspend all TA training for 6 months minimum. Even the weekly drill nights at halls up and down the country. Moronic!
- Terence Harrington, Canterbury, UK, 12/10/2009 22:11
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What a truly amazing bunch of people! My Uncle was a medic in the Eighth Army: he reckoned it was harder to deal with the aftermath because he wasn't carried by the surge of adrenalin a fighting soldier might have. Apart from anecdotes of daily life, he never ever talked about it and he suffered terrible nightmares. We are very lucky that there are so many people who do not think that because something is unpleasant it must be avoided. I hope these guys have a peaceful Christmas.
- Roz, France, 12/10/2009 11:57
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