Holby in Afghanistan

Introductions

Hi all, thanks for all of you reading this :) Hope you enjoy the next part. Love Kendal-Rose

The heat hit her as soon as she stepped off the plane. She exhaled, removing her coat and tucking it into her hand luggage. She was soon met by by two men in army uniforms, who lead her to over to what she presumed was another group of medics. "Everyone, come with me, we've got the plane on the landing pad... we will start your training straight away. Then we'll arrive at base and you can all unpack." Connie smiled at a woman of a similar age and walked beside her following the group of men in front of her.

"I'm Connie, I'm from Holby and I'm beginning to wonder why I'm doing this." She dipped her head slightly, "I hate being told what to do,"The lady laughed, "I'm Jade, I'm from Windsor, and I feel exactly the same."Connie smiled, "Are we the only women here?""It seems that way... shame I'm married."Connie ran her fingers across Jacob's letter that was tucked into the back of her jeans, "And I have a boyfriend.""Whats your speciality?""I was a cardiothoracic surgeon, but more recent I've been clinical lead in A and E, how about you?""Heart and lung transplant nurse... maybe we'll be working together then."

"Right, chit chat stops now... stand back while we open up the aircraft and take the nearest seat you can find once you're aboard. This aircraft is like an intensive care unit, a theatre and a ward all in one. We have up to a ton of equipment for each patient. We carry everything we need on here. We have blood, saline, ventilators, scalpels... everything. There will be times when we will call upon your specialities... and we need you all to write on the board what your specialities and job role are. There will also be times when you are expected to just get on with it, surgeons and doctors, you will work on a variety of cases. Nurses, you will do the same, under which ever doctor is leading. There is no room for emotions... not on here, we expect things to shock you, you're human. But aboard this aircraft, emotions are not permitted. We all wait on the aircraft until the casualties are loaded on. Under no circumstance do any of us leave and enter the battle field. We will be targeted and we don't want to lose a good medic to one of them. Everyone clear? I'm Cam by the way, your clinical lead."

As they stepped onto the huge aircraft, Connie found herself wondering how this thing flew. She also began doubting whether this really was for her. There were no cute paisley scrub caps and or figure hugging outfits. There was no handsome nurse she could fall into bed with after a hard day or night. 

"Cardiothoracics... we have a twenty two year old male, blown up from a roadside bomb... he has shards of glass through his chest and in his arm... infact we could do with a general surgeon too."

Connie and Mike, a general surgeon, stood and rushed over to the young soldier. "My name's Connie and this is Mike, we're two of the surgeons... we're going to sort you out sir," she nodded, transferring him on the count of three onto the bed.

"I think we should ventilate now... I don't want to risk doing it after all the blood loss,""I agree," Mike replied, "Can you do that quickly?"Connie nodded, intubating and ventilating the patient in record time, her skill not going unnoticed by Cam."I want to get this piece out first, where is Jade, get her over here."The aircraft was soon full of injured service men as it powered across the dark skies back to the hospital. The sound of the loud engines made it difficult for them to communicate with each other and they soon found they just had to trust the other professionals. Once her patient was finally stabilized Connie breathed a loud sigh of relief and decreased the settings on the ventilator. She sat back against the inside wall of the aircraft, more than grateful for the bottle of water that Cam handed her as he sat down next to her."I've been watching you super doc," he smiled, "I'm impressed... where did you train?""Kings College," she replied, "I've always wanted to be a surgeon, always.""What brings you out here?" He asked, genuinely interested in his latest prodigy. "The challenge," she smiled, "I thrive on adrenaline and danger and high risk patients... and I was sick of paper work, routine and politics back at Holby. This..." she looked around as patients began to stabilize and the majority of her new colleagues took the opportunity to rest, "This is real medicine, stripped of hospital politics and people wanting to work their way to the top."Cam nodded, "You've got that right. I think you'll fit right in here."