Page 38 - QARANC Vol 19 No 1 2021

36 The Gazette QARANC Association
Op GRANBY 1990–1991
A student nurse’s story
The grapevine foretold deployment to war! As a student nurse (Group 3/88) it became planted in my memory.
In September 1990 I was coming to the end of my second year of training. With Richard Waltham, Candice Goodall, John Johns, Alison Mackenzie and Sharon Ellis I was in Durham for Gareth Johnson’s wedding. Sharon received a message saying we all had to return to CMH and QEMH immediately. I will never forget that phone call or the look on Gareth’s face; he was flying out on his honeymoon the next day. We were all on annual leave and had holidays abroad booked; it was a horrible moment.
A lot of decisions had to be made about our training which was regulated by the English National Board and the Army; eventually we were told that all student nurses more than six months away from completion would have their training suspended: off to war we would go!
The ensuing weeks were a nightmare; we were briefed for departure, said our goodbyes, packed our belongings into storage, and took the bus to Saighton Camp. We spent several bleak days of combat training. Next, we were told student nurses would not be sent to the Gulf after all, so back on the bus we climbed, only to be told a few days later we would be deployed with 33 Field Hospital. It was a stressful time for everyone.
Eventually, surreally, we found ourselves sitting ‘backwards’ on RAF transport to Saudi. I can remember
we all felt scared. The flight was very noisy; the equipment piled up around us didn’t ease our heightened feelings of fear. Landing in Al Jubayl, the aircraft doors opened to a scene out of a Hollywoodwarmovie.Armyvehicles everywhere, helicopters, planes, noise, lights and armed soldiers; I remember thinking ‘oh my God!’
We transferred to Saudi Army Camp 4, an armed, fenced compound around portacabins that became our home for the duration. It was the middle of the night; we literally fell into our bunks too tired to even comprehend what was in store for us.
I remember it being very hot which took some getting used to especially because our green combats were so thick and heavy, certainly not made to be worn in hot climates. They were something out of the 1960s, with those ridiculous puttees wrapped around our ankles we did look like something out of ‘Dads Army’. Eventually we got issued with lighter desert combats and the infamous ‘Floppy Hats’, and we finally looked like we belonged.
The next few weeks were spent getting the hospital built. We commandeered a Goodyear Tyre factory and we worked through the day and into the night to erect the tents and the COLPRO system. We worked really hard, hauling the tents from large crates and putting them up, we fell into our bunks filthy and exhausted. I think this was the hardest time as most days we were shouted at to be somewhere, where we waited for more orders,
Student nurse Alexandra Waltham wearing her ‘Dad’s Army’ kit and ‘floppy hat!’
shouted at again to be somewhere else to then wait again.
Ward equipment was very basic and I remember having to make drip stands out of wire hangers that we hooked over the tent poles. Cardboard boxes made into wedges became back rests. It was quite a competition to who could come up with the most inventive ways to make things. In a few short weeks, we were ready to receive casualties.
It was a strange time waiting for the conflict to start. In the high dependency ward, we didn’t have many patients compared to the other wards; mostly minor injuries and ailments associated with a mass deployment of military personal along with some emergency operations. We nursed a soldier in traction, and yes, we had to rig up a DIY traction system. Being in the COLPRO system we were lucky that we did not have to be in our NBC gear when the numerous drills were performed unlike the staff and patients outside in the low and medium dependency areas.
I remember before Christmas we had instruction to fill sandbags to protect the hospital and our camp. Each day we were dropped off in a field of sand with hundreds of sacks and shovels and spent hours filling the wretched things.
The sound of the air raid siren - for the first time not a drill - was so scary. Four of us we were in our room and scrambled into our NBC suits and lay under our bunk beds waiting interminably for something (we didn’t
In NBC gear in tented ward accommodation