A Brechin soldier on the front line in war-torn Afghanistan had to be airlifted to hospital after being injured falling down the stairs of a watchtower while on lookout.
Captain Lisa Irwin was only discovered lying on the ground in agony after 15 minutes. She had just finished sangar duty, which is an important part of making sure the surrounding area is safe.
Cpt Irwin was flown by helicopter back to Camp Bastion to receive treatment for her injured ankle and is now undergoing rehabilitation. However, she is hoping to be out in the field again quickly.
She said, “As my shift ended my replacement arrived. I wished him a quiet shift and then attempted to manoeuvre myself down the steps, unfortunately not very successfully. I misjudged the depth of the last step, clattering to the ground, and immediately I knew I was in trouble.
“The pain in my ankle was excruciating and I lay on the ground in pain, unable to move. I tried to shout to the guy that had replaced me in the sangar but the noise of nearby generators drifted over me and drowned out my cries.
“After 10 to 15 minutes of trying to shout and no one coming I started to flash my head torch on and off and eventually a couple of the lads came and helped me to the medical tent.
“I’ve gone over on my ankle before when out running and, though extremely painful to begin with, it settles down fairly quickly. So I thought this might be a similar situation I was wrong. The pain began to come in waves and before long I couldn’t bear it.
“A 9 liner (casualty report) was sent to battle group headquarters and a casevac (casualty evacuation) was requested. Initially I was a relatively low priority but, as time went on and my pain worsened, I was cannulated and given IV morphine and my priority status was increased.
“The morphine did its job and I managed to sleep fitfully until morning when the effect was wearing off.”
Cpt Irwin was strapped to a stretcher, rapidly loaded into the back of the helicopter and handed over to the aircrew medics for the short flight to Camp Bastion.
“On landing I was moved by ambulance to the hospital and was there within a couple of minutes,” she said.Felt a fraud”The hospital staff were excellent. I felt a fraud presenting with nothing more than a potentially broken ankle but I was afforded the same excellent standard of care as all casualties.
“My ankle was X-rayed and fortunately not broken so I was then discharged, on crutches, for physiotherapy and rehabilitation. I have damaged ligaments in my foot which, though very painful, with physio and rehab should heal relatively quickly and I can get back to doing my job.
“After two days the bruising came out in spectacular fashion but the swelling started to go down and I was able to abandon the crutches.”
Cpt Irwin is undergoing three hours of fairly intense rehab every day exercises to improve the mobility of her foot as well as general body conditioning to make sure her whole body is strong.
She added, “I can now verify, from personal experience, how good our casualty procedures are and what good facilities we have. I’m just so glad it wasn’t broken and I didn’t need to be evacuated back to UK and with luck and a bit of hard work I’ll be back out on the ground soon.”
Cpt Irwin is a Territorial Army officer working in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand province. Part of her job is to communicate with Afghan women to help them get their lives in order.
Cpt Irwin who has three children aged 17, 15 and nine took the deployment because her civilian contract as a children’s nurse was not going to be renewed due to NHS budget cuts.
“When I have time to think my thoughts always drift back to my family, wondering what my children are up to, how things are back home, and also how they will be when I get back,” she said.
“At the moment I have no job to return to, which is worrying, but I am applying/have applied for several Full Time Reserve Service posts, so I am pinning my hopes on being successful with one of them. As the sole provider for my family I need something.”