ianstone
06-07-2010, 09:43 PM
Exclusive
A wing and a prayer
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_682_1059079a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_682_1059079a.jpg)In good hands ... maimed soldier is comforted by a medic on return to the UK
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_682_1059057a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_682_1059057a.jpg)Team work ... medics tend to a badly-injured soldier having breathing problems
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712D_682_1059056a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712D_682_1059056a.jpg)Well prepared ... life-saving equipment is checked on C-17 Globemaster
http://www.thesun.co.uk/img/global/spacer.gif A SOLDIER with both legs and an arm blown off, a comrade who has been shot in the face - just two of the casualties on the toughest mission yet for the RAF's hospital-in-the-sky.
A fellow hero has lost two limbs and yet another is missing one of his.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_380_1059058a.jpg Reassuring words ... Sherry Conway on flight
Their intensive care "ambulance" - flying a total of 15 wounded troops home from the Afghanistan warzone - is a massive C-17 Globemaster.
Four lie fighting for life as The Sun joins the Air Force's elite team of flying doctors - the first newspaper to see the battle to keep patients alive at 31,000ft.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN07_380_1059059a.jpg Calming influence ... Mike Harris sets up drip
Up to three soldiers are wounded for every one killed in Afghanistan's badlands - and we were granted an unprecedented insight into the first-rate care they receive on the long journey back to Britain.
In years gone by most would have died from their horrific injuries. But thanks to the latest hi-tech medical equipment - and the dedication of RAF doctors and nurses - it is now rare for them NOT to survive.
Squadron Leader Mike Harris, 42, a veteran of C-CAST - the Critical Care in the Air Support Team - boasted proudly: "It's the same level of care you would get in any intensive care unit in any British hospital.
"But it's just at stupid altitude, in the dark, doing silly flying." Stressing his team's life-saving role, he explained how for every sombre homecoming as a coffin makes its way through Wootton Bassett there are "normally two or three injured".
Sqn Ldr Harris said of those his crew brings back: "It's important people know about these guys."
The C-17 Globemaster is 170ft from nose to tail, its wing span is 167ft - and it is packed with half a tonne of medical kit for EVERY critically-ill patient.
Infection
The Sun joined the medics on board as the gigantic hospital took off at 10am local time from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Six hours later we cross the border into Afghanistan under cover of darkness. An hour after that - at 5pm our time - we touch down at Camp Bastion.
A race against time then ensues to get a RECORD number of terribly wounded troops on board. Evil Taliban improvised bombs are usually packed with filth - in the hope those they fail to kill outright die later from infection.
Field ambulances ferry the wounded to the back of the plane which opens down to form a ramp.
Within two hours every patient has been packed on board. But the bustling hospital - whose staff work a 24-hour shift - has another stop before heading home, bolstered by three medics from the base who increase the team to 14.
Stretchers are locked into racks bolted to the plane's floor and capable of accommodating patients three-high. Tubes, drips and other life- saving equipment are hooked up.
The flying hospital's staff now includes a consultant anaesthetist and two deputies - both fully-qualified doctors - a GP, two other medics and four intensive care nurses.
Next stop is Kandahar - where three more casualties are brought on board plus a FIFTEENTH medic. He is reservist Mark Pittlock, 45, an East Sussex fireman, who tells me: "I joined to do my bit. I wanted to do more than just wear my Help for Heroes wristband."
At 11.45pm UK time we take off for home. Many of the casualties are pumped full of painkillers and heavily sedated.
But that does not stop the doctors and nurses tenderly whispering words of comfort and holding their hands.
Boss on this flight is Sherry Conway, 31, a flight lieutenant in the Tactical Medical Wing at RAF Lyneham. She said of her patients: "All I think is that these boys are doing their best for their country.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712Dvv_380_1059054a.jpg Dad ... Cpl Webster
"They are making a massive difference out there and deserve the best care."
Among today's casualties is a soldier with a broken back who looks no more than a teenager. He still has desert sand in his navel.
During the gruelling mercy mission - which will be followed by another tomorrow - the crew grabs what kip it can on mattresses strewn on the floor. Sherry admits it is "noisy and shaky".
In fact the deafening racket in the flying ward means everyone wears earplugs.
Meanwhile the smell of infected flesh has long ago become cloying.
Because the wounded are in such a frail condition, they are constantly monitored. Any turbulence on the flight could cost a life. Last year there were 40 C-CAST flights like this as 1,400 patients were whisked back from Afghanistan, 121 of them in critical condition.
But the hospital has never experienced the kind of workload it is seeing now. The most senior doctor on board is Wing Commander Curtis Whittle, 38, who is a consultant anaesthetist from Bristol.
Gently
Grimly, he said of the toll of wounded the team is currently airlifting home: "Three years ago it was one at a time - now scenes like this are becoming more and more normal."
It is 8.30am when we land at Birmingham International Airport - where a fleet of six ambulances awaits.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_180_1059077a.jpg Engaged ... L/Cpl Cochran
Medics make a point of whispering to all the patients: "You're home." The injured are gently taken from the plane before their 20-minute journey to a wing at Selly Oak Hospital which is dedicated to Forces casualties.
Flt Lt Nicola Baker, 38 - among those on the plane who cared for the latest crop of wounded - said sadly: "They are so young. A lot of the time I could be their mother."
THE two latest British troops killed in Afghanistan include one who died "leading his men in battle", it emerged last night. Cpl Terry Webster's commanding officer described the dad of two, 24, from Chester, as "totally committed".
Grieving wife Charlotte said: "Tez was loyal and determined." He and newly-promoted lance corporal Alan Cochran, 23, from St Asaph, North Wales, were in a firefight with the Taliban in Nahre Saraj, Helmand.
Both were in 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment. L/Cpl Cochran's fiancée Claire Brookshaw said: "He has been a great part of my life and always will be."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3002310/Sun-flies-with-RAF-medics.html#ixzz0qDnJzGY6
Thank god for these people
A wing and a prayer
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_682_1059079a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_682_1059079a.jpg)In good hands ... maimed soldier is comforted by a medic on return to the UK
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_682_1059057a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_682_1059057a.jpg)Team work ... medics tend to a badly-injured soldier having breathing problems
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712D_682_1059056a.jpg
Slideshows
(http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712D_682_1059056a.jpg)Well prepared ... life-saving equipment is checked on C-17 Globemaster
http://www.thesun.co.uk/img/global/spacer.gif A SOLDIER with both legs and an arm blown off, a comrade who has been shot in the face - just two of the casualties on the toughest mission yet for the RAF's hospital-in-the-sky.
A fellow hero has lost two limbs and yet another is missing one of his.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN071_380_1059058a.jpg Reassuring words ... Sherry Conway on flight
Their intensive care "ambulance" - flying a total of 15 wounded troops home from the Afghanistan warzone - is a massive C-17 Globemaster.
Four lie fighting for life as The Sun joins the Air Force's elite team of flying doctors - the first newspaper to see the battle to keep patients alive at 31,000ft.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN07_380_1059059a.jpg Calming influence ... Mike Harris sets up drip
Up to three soldiers are wounded for every one killed in Afghanistan's badlands - and we were granted an unprecedented insight into the first-rate care they receive on the long journey back to Britain.
In years gone by most would have died from their horrific injuries. But thanks to the latest hi-tech medical equipment - and the dedication of RAF doctors and nurses - it is now rare for them NOT to survive.
Squadron Leader Mike Harris, 42, a veteran of C-CAST - the Critical Care in the Air Support Team - boasted proudly: "It's the same level of care you would get in any intensive care unit in any British hospital.
"But it's just at stupid altitude, in the dark, doing silly flying." Stressing his team's life-saving role, he explained how for every sombre homecoming as a coffin makes its way through Wootton Bassett there are "normally two or three injured".
Sqn Ldr Harris said of those his crew brings back: "It's important people know about these guys."
The C-17 Globemaster is 170ft from nose to tail, its wing span is 167ft - and it is packed with half a tonne of medical kit for EVERY critically-ill patient.
Infection
The Sun joined the medics on board as the gigantic hospital took off at 10am local time from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Six hours later we cross the border into Afghanistan under cover of darkness. An hour after that - at 5pm our time - we touch down at Camp Bastion.
A race against time then ensues to get a RECORD number of terribly wounded troops on board. Evil Taliban improvised bombs are usually packed with filth - in the hope those they fail to kill outright die later from infection.
Field ambulances ferry the wounded to the back of the plane which opens down to form a ramp.
Within two hours every patient has been packed on board. But the bustling hospital - whose staff work a 24-hour shift - has another stop before heading home, bolstered by three medics from the base who increase the team to 14.
Stretchers are locked into racks bolted to the plane's floor and capable of accommodating patients three-high. Tubes, drips and other life- saving equipment are hooked up.
The flying hospital's staff now includes a consultant anaesthetist and two deputies - both fully-qualified doctors - a GP, two other medics and four intensive care nurses.
Next stop is Kandahar - where three more casualties are brought on board plus a FIFTEENTH medic. He is reservist Mark Pittlock, 45, an East Sussex fireman, who tells me: "I joined to do my bit. I wanted to do more than just wear my Help for Heroes wristband."
At 11.45pm UK time we take off for home. Many of the casualties are pumped full of painkillers and heavily sedated.
But that does not stop the doctors and nurses tenderly whispering words of comfort and holding their hands.
Boss on this flight is Sherry Conway, 31, a flight lieutenant in the Tactical Medical Wing at RAF Lyneham. She said of her patients: "All I think is that these boys are doing their best for their country.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712Dvv_380_1059054a.jpg Dad ... Cpl Webster
"They are making a massive difference out there and deserve the best care."
Among today's casualties is a soldier with a broken back who looks no more than a teenager. He still has desert sand in his navel.
During the gruelling mercy mission - which will be followed by another tomorrow - the crew grabs what kip it can on mattresses strewn on the floor. Sherry admits it is "noisy and shaky".
In fact the deafening racket in the flying ward means everyone wears earplugs.
Meanwhile the smell of infected flesh has long ago become cloying.
Because the wounded are in such a frail condition, they are constantly monitored. Any turbulence on the flight could cost a life. Last year there were 40 C-CAST flights like this as 1,400 patients were whisked back from Afghanistan, 121 of them in critical condition.
But the hospital has never experienced the kind of workload it is seeing now. The most senior doctor on board is Wing Commander Curtis Whittle, 38, who is a consultant anaesthetist from Bristol.
Gently
Grimly, he said of the toll of wounded the team is currently airlifting home: "Three years ago it was one at a time - now scenes like this are becoming more and more normal."
It is 8.30am when we land at Birmingham International Airport - where a fleet of six ambulances awaits.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01059/SNN0712_180_1059077a.jpg Engaged ... L/Cpl Cochran
Medics make a point of whispering to all the patients: "You're home." The injured are gently taken from the plane before their 20-minute journey to a wing at Selly Oak Hospital which is dedicated to Forces casualties.
Flt Lt Nicola Baker, 38 - among those on the plane who cared for the latest crop of wounded - said sadly: "They are so young. A lot of the time I could be their mother."
THE two latest British troops killed in Afghanistan include one who died "leading his men in battle", it emerged last night. Cpl Terry Webster's commanding officer described the dad of two, 24, from Chester, as "totally committed".
Grieving wife Charlotte said: "Tez was loyal and determined." He and newly-promoted lance corporal Alan Cochran, 23, from St Asaph, North Wales, were in a firefight with the Taliban in Nahre Saraj, Helmand.
Both were in 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment. L/Cpl Cochran's fiancée Claire Brookshaw said: "He has been a great part of my life and always will be."
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/3002310/Sun-flies-with-RAF-medics.html#ixzz0qDnJzGY6
Thank god for these people