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

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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”. When I was reading about the simulated torture scenarios she had to get through, I was absolutely shivering inside. How anyone can get through that kind of thing for real, I just don't know. Man's inhumanity to man clearly knows no bounds. I think that’s my new purpose, kind of helping others really, which is really good, I’m loving it.’ Liz turned to writing both poetry and her autobiography following a tough battle with PTSD years after leaving the service, in the hope it may help others with their mental health.

She is now living in Basingstoke near the airbase she worked at, RAF Odiham — where the Chinooks are based — after spending a total of 17-and-a-half years flying with the RAF’s Chinook fleet. 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.

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PTSD doesn’t have to stay with you forever. It’s a chapter in my book, it’s not an anchor that I wear around my legs forever or a new label that I have to have forever,” she said. “I’ve met so many people via social media who tag themselves as the broken soldier or the forgotten veteran. But just like anything in your body, the bone you break or whatever, with the right time and methods you can heal, and you can move on and recover. I really want to get the message out – just because I had PTSD does not mean I have to have it forever.” Only the highest of praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this wonderful story that im positive you will find very interesting. I really hope the author writes more books as I would really love to read more. I also want to thank her for her service to our country. NetGalley, Claire Lavin Yes, I have,” she said. “Having had the book come out [all her mental health challenges are] now completely out in the world. And the more I’m talking about it, the more it is genuinely OK now. McConaghy said that the most frequently asked, and least favorite, question over the years has been the challenges she has faced as a female crewman.

Liz McConaghy, originally from Newtownards, holds the accolade of longest-serving female on the Chinook wing and also the youngest aircrew member ever deployed to Iraq.Commenting on this year’s campaign and winner, Alidad Moghaddam, CEO of Defence Discount Service, said: With votes opening earlier this year on International Women’s Day, the award called upon the British defence community to nominate women working within all areas of the armed forces – including the reserve forces, MoD civil servants, cadet forces and UK-based NATO personnel – who had gone above and beyond the call of duty. Aerospace book choices for Christmas, the best of 2022's aviation books. Royal Aeronautical Society

This is a unique tale that only Liz could tell, which ends with her battling the memories that haunted her long after she had left the battlefield. Air Mail. RAF Association, October - December 2022 As I read this book, my admiration for this woman really grew and grew. She worked SO hard and she put her body through the wringer as she did it. This is one person who really gave her all for her country and her mates. So sad about the soldiers who didn't make it :( The bad stuff is the same stuff that everyone else goes through, not so much the PTSD and mental health.” I knew we were about to crash so I braced myself hard against the door frame and placed my hand on the release straps of my harness,” she said.

Forces TV Interview https://www.forces.net/mental-health/how-one-female-chinook-crewman-turned-her-life-around-after-nearly-ending-it-all And I never not wanted to go and if I hadn’t gone, it meant somebody else had to go in my place. Somebody else [who] had to do an extra one or one of the new guys who wasn’t combat ready had to go instead when he wasn’t quite ready to go. I was always really worried that someone would have to take my bullet, you feel like if you don’t go, what if something happens and I’m meant to be there and I’m not? That kind of kept me in the job, certainly for those ten years. “ Originally from a small town in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she attended RAF Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career. 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.