Page 22 - Signal Summer 2018

| CATHAL BERRY |

A Major Casualty Exercise which was conducted recently in the Curragh.

break. Indeed the majority of his promotion interview 2001 where an entire field hospital was deployed in a
focussed on what he learned from his time in industry and standalone capacity. Looking beyond the horizon the
how he would apply this learning should he get promoted. new ‘Blue-Green’ Multi-Role Naval Vessel is likely to have
Imagine that! The bottom line is taking a career break a significant medical capability and will therefore need to
is a great opportunity. You don’t have to retire from the be staffed by medical personnel. I’m looking forward to
Defence Forces to try something completely new. testing out my sea legs onboard.
What opportunities are now open to you as a result In summary, medical capability is a key enabler for
of your transition and how do you hope to make the wider military operations yet the Medical Corps has
most of them? been an afterthought at best for many years. Most of
Personally speaking the sky is the limit from here. our problems have been self-inflicted however resulting
Medicine is a highly sought after qualification which in low morale and crumbling infrastructure. While there
facilitates employment in practically any country in the are pockets of individual brilliance there remains collec-
world. We can’t all stay in the Defence Forces forever so tive dysfunction. But despite the Medical Corps’ past I
it’s important that we have a marketable skill when the am more hopeful and ambitious than ever for its future
time comes to leave. I should add that I have no intention because as any good builder will tell you- rock bottom is
of going anywhere anytime soon though. The Defence the best foundation!
Forces have been very good to me and my family down
through the years, so we are keen to reciprocate. So to
answer your question I intend using these newly acquired
skills to positively contribute to the organisation and offer
much needed continuity to my unit. Officer continuity in
the same unit? What a novel idea that would be!
What unique aspects of medicine would be unique
to the military medical professional as opposed to a
general medical practitioner?
The really unique selling point is that you get to practice
Humanitarian, Expeditionary and Pre-Hospital Medicine.
Just consider where you could have worked in the last
20 years alone? Week long patrols in Chadian desert, the
Liberian jungle or even the Arctic Circle. Or the opportu-
nity to work as part of the World Health Organisation’s
response to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone or even Medical Corps personnel assessing a
Ireland’s response to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in casualty during an exercise.

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