Chinook Crew 'Chick': Highs and Lows of Forces Life from the Longest Serving Female RAF Chinook Force Crewmember

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Liz summarised her experiences with mental health and shared her tips for those who are suffering, and those who know someone else who is suffering. McConaghy was the longest-serving female crewman on the RAF Chinook Fleet, spanning a 17-year career on the aircraft. Article featured: Liz McConaghy named 2023 Inspirational Women in Defence by the Defence Discount Service. RAF News - July 28, 2023 It was almost like I had 10 years' worth of tears that just had to come out. It was only then that I was able to come to terms with the fact that, I’m a veteran and I’m a PTSD survivor. Commenting on this year’s campaign and winner, Alidad Moghaddam, CEO of Defence Discount Service, said:

My basic training, there were three of us which is good. My Shawbury course (RAF Shawbury, a helicopter training base), I was the only female crewman, then I was the only one on the Chinook force for [several] years, so I’m quite used to being in that environment. I was not the first female crewman by any stretch, there were a couple before me. Aged 21, Liz was the youngest member of the aircrew to deploy to Iraq and the only female crew member on the Chinook wing for four years, so her story is entirely unique. Forces TV Interview https://www.forces.net/mental-health/how-one-female-chinook-crewman-turned-her-life-around-after-nearly-ending-it-all WE NEED YOUR HELP, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or your podcast playing app. Liz talks to us about her flying career, the mighty Chinook and the after-effects of war, stress and the impact on her mental health.From dodging bullets to saving soldiers and witnessing the brutality and loss of war, Liz discusses how she found herself bringing the battlefield home, despite her fighting days being over. With her hands tied together, McConaghy felt it “roll down my chest and all the way to my belly button. Still makes me cringe now thinking about it. But at least it distracted me from the screaming”. Originally from a small town in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she attended RAF Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career. Does McConaghy have any words of wisdom for people thinking of following the same kind of career path? This, it seems, saved her life. McConaghy started receiving counselling for PTSD from the charity Help For Heroes, and “cried for months, finally letting go of all the tears I had stored up inside me over the years that I had never let leak out from my eyes for fear of displaying weakness”.

On her final MERT operation, a US medic handed McConaghy a clear plastic bag with the severed foot of an American serviceman killed in action. Xtended can also be found on Apple Podcasts, the Google Podcast app, Spotify and wherever else you normally listen to podcasts. From 2007 McConaghy crewed the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT), a high-octane M.A.S.H-style air ambulance service in which a Chinook was on constant readiness at Bastion to fly to the middle of the battlefield and rescue seriously wounded soldiers. On her busiest day of operations in 2008, she and her crew flew 14 separate sorties – including one where five British soldiers had been killed at a forward operating base. We also deliberately didn’t try to find out whether the casualties had made it or not, it was too difficult to find out because it wasn’t good for our mental health, but when the camp went into a state of ‘minimise’ — which is when the internet and phone lines are turned off — we knew that was when someone had lost their lives. Find the thing that makes your skin tingle,” she said. “If it’s anything less than something that really lights your fire, you’re never going to get up and give it 100%, commit everything and throw yourself in headfirst. If you’re settling for what you’re doing, it’s not the right thing. Aim high and go for it! You’ll never know if you don’t try so just go for it.As a resillience speaker and mental health speaker, Liz’s story offers hope to those who have also found themselves in the darkest places and are looking for the tools within themselves to begin rebuilding a pathway to a new life. However, her most significant honour of all her duties was serving on the Medical Emergency Response Team, or MERT, flying ambulance as it was more commonly known. This involved recovering wounded soldiers from the battlefield, often under fire. I requested this book because of my love of aircraft and in particular Chinooks. This was a great insight and a really interesting read. NetGalley, Karena Freeman