Page 8 - QARANC Vol 15 No 2 2017

6 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Red Crosses and Blue Berets but still QA’s
Africa never disappoints with its sunrises and sunsets.
Somewhere below the Equator and in Africa is probably all I really knew about South Sudan before I ever heard the words United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) or Op TRENTON. What I certainly didn’t know at the time was the degree to which this small, young and continually overlooked country was going to occupy my working day and much of my free time. It took roughly a year of preparation, planning, pre-deployment training, packing, re-planning, repacking, manifesting and then repacking all over again. Those of us lucky enough to have done Herrick in years past, probably (like myself) took much of the logistical chain for granted like flights in and out, manifesting kit and dangerous goods carriage. I was an IA (individual augmentee) on every operational tour I’ve done, a bum on a seat, headphones on and relatively oblivious to all those in the background scurrying about turning cogs and making the whole machine grind on.
For Op TRENTON I wasn’t so lucky, and in truth, I craved more responsibility and accountability, if only because as a SNCO, I can always think of a million better ways to do things, if only somebody would listen. 16 Medical Regiment gave me this opportunity and gifted me the role of (HOD) Head of the RESUS department.
Having spent my entire career in an MDHU/DMG that gave me a sound clinical footing on which to lead my department, the real crux of being the HOD, however, was the logistics of ordering kit and equipment husbandry/ maintenance, endless briefs and back briefs and manifests, packing boxes and making sure my staff were trained
STRATUM ONE, sent ahead of main body, small highly capable Medical Treatment Facility, consisting of Resus, Labs, FST (Field Surgical Team) and ICU (Intensive Care Unit). All personnel pictured, deployed as S1.