54
Emma Wardle’s heart was pounding in her chest as she watched the medics bustling around in the Emergency Room. There were several faces that she didn’t recognise, and several faces that should have been there but weren’t. She’d heard various hurried reports of casualties from two separate incidents. There could be as many as ten casualties, but no one seemed to be sure exactly what was going on. She’d overheard a conversation between one of the doctors and an Ops Officer who were talking in the corridor as she’d walked past, and Emma was sure she’d heard them talking about a helicopter crash. They’d both fallen silent as she walked past, and when she asked the Ops Officer what was going on, he’d just replied with a stare. When she arrived in the Emergency Room, she looked around for Major Clarke who should have been in the middle, coordinating the troops, but she couldn’t see him anywhere.
‘Do you know what’s happening?’ Emma asked a medical technician who was hurrying past with a tray full of equipment.
‘Not sure, mate,’ he replied. ‘No one’s briefed us yet. All anyone really knows is that a major incident’s been called.’
Emma was desperate to go to the bathroom, but she didn’t want to be seen leaving the Emergency Room. She looked around again for Major Clarke, knowing that he wouldn’t mind if she nipped away just for a second, but she still couldn’t see him. As she searched for the senior nurse, a hush descended over the room. Brigadier Foster was standing by the entrance, with a man standing behind him. She recognised him as the policeman that her cousin Matthew had pointed out to her at Brize Norton the previous evening.
‘Ladies, Gentlemen,’ the Brigadier said. Although many of the medics in the room had already seen him and quietened down, there were still a few who were talking. Foster repeated his introduction, more loudly this time, and the room fell silent. Emma moved a couple of paces towards him, anxious to hear what he had to say, just as another Ops Officer entered the room behind the Brigadier and handed him a piece of paper.
‘Ladies, Gents, we have a situation,’ Foster said, his voice back to a normal volume. He glanced down at the piece of paper and frowned. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked the Ops Officer next to him, who just nodded in reply. Foster continued, ‘We have one Chinook inbound, ETA about six minutes. FOB Robinson came under attack at first light, and they sustained heavy casualties. One of the Chinooks that was sent in to retrieve the casualties came under attack, we think.’ Foster turned to the Ops Officer, who nodded again. ‘It was brought down not far from the FOB, and there are casualties inbound from that incident. As well as the TRT, Major Clarke and Squadron Leader Webb were also on that helicopter.’ There was a collective gasp around the room as the gathered medics realised that two of their own team were involved, and Emma pressed her hand to her chest in shock. ‘The other earlier casualties have gone to Kandahar.’ Foster paused, and Emma watched as he surveyed the room. ‘There are KIA from the helicopter incident, we think three. But we don’t know for sure. It’s all quite confusing, as you can imagine.’
Emma listened to the Brigadier carry on outlining how little they actually knew about what was going on, but his words barely registered. Her friends were on that helicopter. Lizzie, Adams, and even though Colonel Nick was a cock sometimes she’d never wish him any harm. And Ronald too, as well as Clarke and Webb. She felt tears pricking at her eyes, but tried to blink them back. Above the hospital, Emma heard the familiar sound of helicopters.
‘That was never six minutes,’ she muttered as she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. Emma walked towards the rear entrance of the Emergency Room to wait for the ambulances. Walking outside, she wished that she smoked, even if was just for something to take her mind off what was going on.
Emma stood in the morning sun and watched the Chinook wheel round and disappear behind the accommodation tents. A few minutes later, with the rotors of the helicopter still beating, she saw three battlefield ambulances tearing in convoy towards the Emergency Room. The first ambulance pulled up to the doors and swung around, reversing a few feet towards her. The doors flew open and several soldiers jumped down from the back, quickly manhandling a stretcher out of the vehicle. Emma took a few steps backward, knowing that she should really be helping them with the casualties, but she had to see who was in the ambulances.
As the first stretcher was wheeled past her, Emma craned her neck forward to see if she could recognise the casualty. Although he was wrapped up in foil blankets, she thought it was Ronald. She bit the nail of her index finger as the next ambulance was reversed into position, and the same process repeated. It was the Australian loadie on the stretcher, with one of the pilots walking behind him, blood spattered down his flight suit. Still no sign of Lizzie.
The last ambulance was finally manoeuvred into position, and as the back doors were opened Emma noticed a metallic taste in her mouth. Looking at her finger, she realised that she had managed to bite right through the skin by her fingernail, which was now bleeding.
The first person to step down from the ambulance was carrying a large medical bag. He turned around, and Emma recognised Adams. Thank God, he was okay at least. He looked shattered, his face was covered in grime, and he had bloodstains on the front of his uniform. Emma stepped towards the back of the ambulance, trying to see around him into the back. The next person she saw get out was Colonel Nick, his arm in a sling and a large bandage wrapped around his head. A couple of soldiers came back out of the Emergency Room to help with the stretcher that was still inside, pushing past her to get to the ambulance doors.
As the stretcher was pulled out into the sunlight, Emma almost cried as she recognised Lizzie’s face, half-covered by a bloodstained oxygen mask. She looked as if she’d been battered half to death, but Emma saw Lizzie blinking rapidly in the sunlight.
‘Thank God you’re okay, Lizzie,’ Emma said, almost in a squeak. Lizzie raised an arm and grabbed the oxygen mask, moving it from her face so that she could speak.
‘I might need to borrow a bit of your make up later, mate,’ Lizzie said, her voice hoarse and weak. ‘I think I might look a bit rough.’ Despite everything, she managed a wry smile at Emma.
Lizzie put the mask back on her face and closed her eyes as the stretcher was wheeled away, closely followed by Colonel Nick on foot. Adams turned to face Emma, running his hand across his head.
‘Where’s Major Clarke? Squadron Leader Webb?’ she asked him. Adams looked at her, and she could feel the tears start to run down her face. He didn’t have to say anything at all to let her know that they’d not made it.
Adams reached out a hand and rubbed her upper arm.
‘I’m sorry, Emma,’ he whispered before he turned to follow the others into the Emergency Room. Emma watched him walk away, the tiredness obvious in his entire body. She sank to her haunches, put her hands across her face, and cried.
And cried.
55
One Week Later
Adams reached across Lizzie’s stretcher and pulled hard on one of the restraining straps. They were in the back of an ambulance, waiting for a driver to take them to the HLS. From there they’d be put onto a helicopter to Kandahar, and from there onto a TriStar to Brize Norton. Next to them was another ambulance with Colonel Nick and Ronald, who were destined for the same flight.
‘Oi, you bugger,’ Lizzie laughed. ‘I can’t breathe.’ Adams pulled on the second strap just as hard, pinning her legs to the stretcher. ‘You sod, un-tighten them,’ she complained, still laughing.
‘Don’t want you kicking yourself in the face again on the way back to Blighty, do we?’ Adams replied. He looked at her, his eyes softening. Her face was still bruised beyond recognition, dark circles under her eyes from her badly broken nose and fractured eye socket. Lizzie’s nose had been reset in the operating theatre so at least it was straight, but he knew that she was looking at at least one more operation when they got back home to put some metalwork in her eye socket. The surgeon had also managed to replace the tooth that the
y’d found embedded in the flesh just above her knee, once they’d worked out that it was hers. If she was lucky, Adams had told her in the hospital as she’d recovered, they could maybe do a spot of liposuction at the same time?
‘This time tomorrow, we’ll be home, mate,’ Adams said. ‘Can you believe that?’
‘I know,’ Lizzie replied. ‘Do you think we’ll get any grief for coming back early?’
‘Er, I wouldn’t have thought so. We have been through the mill a bit.’
‘Speak for yourself.’ Lizzie tried to raise an arm to touch her face, but the strap across her midriff stopped her. ‘Come on, loosen these bloody straps.’
Adams picked up his day sack from the floor of the ambulance and reached into it, pulling out a crossword magazine and a pen. He leaned back into the seat and opened the magazine, putting his feet up on the edge of Lizzie’s stretcher.
‘Oh, come on,’ Lizzie said when she noticed Adams with the magazine. She struggled against the straps, but couldn’t move her arms at all above the elbows. ‘That’s my bloody magazine.’
A shadow passed across the sun shining into the back of the ambulance, and Emma Wardle climbed up into the cabin. She grabbed the magazine out of Adams's hands and gave him a playful slap round the head with it before leaning over Lizzie to undo the straps.
‘Sir,’ she said to Adams as she unbuckled them. ‘That’s bullying, and I might have to report you for it.’
‘Yeah, too right. And he was hitting me too, just before you came to rescue me.’ Lizzie raised her arms in the air and stretched. ‘Thanks, mate. You’re my hero.’
Adams looked at the two of them and smiled, knowing when he was outnumbered.
‘It’s a fair cop,’ he said. ‘I’ll come quietly.’ As soon as he said the word ‘cop’ he saw Lizzie’s face darken. He could have chosen his words a bit better, he thought.
‘Are they on the same plane?’ Adams knew that Lizzie was referring to the policemen who’d been in the hospital all week, questioning people, digging their noses into everything.
‘I think so,’ Adams replied. ‘They’re not that bad, though. I got interviewed God knows how many times by the head copper, Griffiths is it?’
‘Yep, that’s him.’ Adams saw Lizzie looking across at Emma, who was grinning. ‘Emma, wipe that bloody grin off your face.’
‘How’s me being interviewed by the police funny, anyway?’ he asked.
‘Oh, it’s not that,’ Lizzie replied. ‘It’s one of the policemen. Emma’s got a new friend. With a pony tail and everything.’
’Shut up, Lizzie,’ Emma said, blushing. ‘You promised you wouldn’t say anything. I wish I’d not rescued you now.’
‘Don’t worry, my lips are sealed,’ Adams said. ‘I won’t say a word.’
‘Liar,’ Emma replied, looking at her watch. ‘We need to get going. I’ll go and see where the driver’s buggered off to.’
Emma hopped out of the back of the ambulance. Adams and Lizzie sat in silence for a few minutes before Lizzie finally broke the silence.
‘Do you think the others are on the same plane as well?’
‘Who, Clarke and Webb? And the others?’
‘Yep.’
‘I don’t know Lizzie. But if they are, we won’t know about it, will we?’
‘Guess not.’ She shrugged. ‘Even so, it’d be kind of fitting if they came back home with us.’
‘I suppose so,’ Adams said after a pause.
They both sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Adams wasn’t sure what to think anymore. They’d all been through so much that all he wanted to do was to go home. He was fairly sure that Lizzie felt the same way.
‘What are you most looking forward to when you get home then, Lizzie?’
‘Home cooking, I think,’ she replied. ‘I’ve been fading away over here, I have.’ Lizzie grabbed a non-existent roll of fat around her stomach. ‘I wonder what my mum’s going to say when she sees the state of me?’
Emma’s face reappeared at the open doors at the back of the ambulance.
‘Right, you two,’ she said. ‘I’ve found the driver.’ Adams heard the front door of the vehicle open, and felt the ambulance tilt as someone got in the front. ‘You good to go?’ Adams and Lizzie both nodded, and Emma shut the doors to the ambulance.
As the ambulance rumbled away from Camp Bastion hospital, Adams grabbed Lizzie’s hand.
‘I know exactly what she’s going to say when she sees you, Lizzie.’
‘What?’ Lizzie replied.
‘Welcome home.’
Glossary
An overview of British military ranks can be found here.
9-Liner — a standard NATO medical evacuation request template. Example.
A10 — The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single-seat, twin turbofan engine, straight wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). It is commonly referred to by the nicknames ‘Warthog’, ‘Hog’, ‘Flying Gun, or ‘Tank Buster’. More Information.
Apache — An attack helicopter used extensively by the Army Air Corps in Afghanistan from 2006 onwards. More Information.
Cat A / B / C — evacuation priorities used in the NATO standard 9-liner request. Cat A is ‘urgent’, Cat B is ‘urgent surgical’, Cat C is ‘priority’. There are also two further categories - Cat D (‘routine’), and Cat E (‘convenience’). See also 9-Liner and Triage.
Chinook — a twin-engined, tandem rotor, heavy-lift helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol (later known as Boeing Rotorcraft Systems). The CH-47 is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. More Information.
CH47 — see Chinook.
Crabs — a (mostly derogatory) term for members of the Royal Air Force used by other services. The exact origin is unknown, but probably related to ‘crabfat’ ( the grease used on gun breeches by the Royal Navy, which was the same colour blue as an ointment used to treat genital lice and the RAF uniform).
CO — abbreviation for ‘Commanding Officer’, the officer in command of a military unit. See also OC. More Information.
Command Post / CP — see Ops Room.
Dit — a military slang term for a story.
ETA — abbreviation for ‘Estimated time of arrival’.
Fat Albert — an affectionate military slang term for the Hercules transport plane. See Hercules / Herc.
Forward Operating Base — Also known as a ‘FOB’, a Forward Operating base is a secured forward military position that is used to support tactical operations. More Information.
GSM — abbreviation for ‘Garrison Sergeant Major’, the senior warrant officer of a garrison and holds the rank of Warrant Officer (Class 1). More Information.
GSW — abbreviation for ‘Gun Shot Wound’.
Hercules / Herc — C130 Hercules transport plane. A four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac, and cargo transport aircraft. More Information.
Hermes — a type of UAV, based on Israeli designs, used by British troops in Afghanistan.
HLS — an abbreviation for ‘Helicopter Landing Site’.
KIA — an abbreviation for ‘Killed in action’.
Loadie / Loadmaster — an aircrew member on civilian aircraft or military transport aircraft tasked with the safe loading, transport and unloading of aerial cargoes. More Information.
LZ — an abbreviation for ‘Landing Zone’. See HLS.
mIRC — an internet relay (text based) chat system used widely by the military. More Information.
Mucker — British slang term for friend or acquaintance. More Information.
Negligent Discharge — a type of accidental discharge of a firearm. A chargeable offence in the British military on the grounds that anyone carrying a weapon is in full control of it at all
times. More Information.
OBE — Order of the British Empire. A British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. Sometimes referred to as standing for ‘Other Bugger’s Efforts’ in the British military. More Information.
OC — an abbreviation for ‘Officer Commanding’ or the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size). See also CO. More Information.
Ops Room — a military Operations Room. May be a small room with only one or two personnel, or a much larger facility. Also known as a Command Post, or CP. More Information.
Pan — a military term for an area where aircraft park, taxi, or take off.
Pan Pan — The message PAN-PAN is the international standard urgency signal that someone aboard a boat, ship, aircraft, or other vehicle uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent, but for the time being, does not pose an immediate danger to anyone's life or to the vessel itself. More Information.
Quartermaster / QM — in land armies, a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. More Information.
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