Dan - Emma has probably already seen this but if not.......pretty good stuff here.......
At just 21, Liz McConaghy was the youngest aircrew member to be deployed to Iraq. For four years, she was the only female ‘crewman’ on the chinook wing.
Flying with the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, Liz would fly into dangerous war zones to recover severely wounded service personnel. The Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) were responsible for saving countless lives in Helmand Province.
She went on to serve 17 years with the Royal Air Force, completing 2 deployments in Iraq and 10 in Afghanistan
The Veteran-turned-author has recently published a book revealing the highs and lows of her career plus the heavy cost of war both physically and mentally on those who serve. Liz talks about her struggles with her mental health, including a suicide attempt during an extremely low point.
She said: "In August 2020, I woke up one day and I can only describe it as an out-of-body experience because I felt so detached emotionally from myself at this point and I decided that I was going to end my life.
"I actually woke up two days later in Basingstoke Intensive Care on an intubation machine and had been taken in by an ambulance crew.
"It turns out that I had actually called at 00:50 in the morning, so clearly something inside me still wanted to fight."
Liz received help from HelpforHeroes and partner charity PTSD Resolution.
Liz hopes her story will inspire and help those who are both wanting to enlist and facing the reality of living with battlefield memories every day.
'Chinook Crew 'Chick': Highs and Lows of Forces Life from the Longest Serving Female RAF Chinook Force Crewmember’ is available to purchase now.
