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

Unbelievable read, went from laughing to crying. So honest and emotive. 100% would recommend buying and reading.

I devoured Chinook Crew ’Chick’ in two easy sessions but it would be wrong to describe this book as an easy read. As pages turned apace, I increasingly felt strapped to a mental rollercoaster, careering between genuine, laugh out loud moments and passages which left me unable to hold back tears.Liz McConaghy’s engaging and endearing writing style shifts us gently from her upbringing in rural County Down, through RAF helicopter loadmaster training, to the harsh desert landscapes of Afghanistan at war and, finally, to her battle with PTSD.She vividly recreates treasured scenes: Helmand sunsets watched, boot-dangling, from the ramp of the Chinook. The sounds and smells she witnessed daily, harnessed to the helicopter she clearly adores. Equally chronicled, yet much harder to unravel, is her very personal - and near fatal - struggle with mental health.There is irreverent humour aplenty: totally unavoidable when describing the antics and playfully ‘cruel’ banter of squaddies and close-knit aircrew facing the reality of combat.Also, there is great sadness in the accounts of death involving close friends and comrades. Inevitably too, the battlefield casualties: some breathing their last in the back of her aircraft - others, brought back to life at her feet in the face of surgically impossible odds. Throughout, she steadfastly refuses to label herself as courageous, describing her clearly heroic achievements as: “what I signed up for”.However, her carefully chosen words glow with empathy, compassion and, above all, love. A pat on the shoulder for offloading troops. A grateful thumbs-up from those returning alive from enemy contact. A profound respect shines through for the repatriated fallen, poignantly referred to as precious freight: in her words, “The Greatest Honour”.Such events are thoughtfully and sympathetically woven into a book of humbling charm, uncompromising honesty and heartbreaking tragedy. Fortunately, humour, hope, love, survival instinct and the unbreakable resolve of the human spirit endure.Ultimately, this book provides lessons for us all, admirably demonstrating the potentially life-saving support we are able to offer to those around us. Perhaps, and more importantly - from her very clear message - we should recognise the need to seek that same support from others in moments of our own profound crisis.Most highly recommended, Chinook Crew ’Chick’ is an absolute must-read if you care about people, their lives, loves, hopes and fears; and the fragile bonds which hopefully might forever bind us all together.Bravo Zulu, Gloria.

Brilliant , Amazing lady. Love her down to earth honesty.

Saw this lady at a conference. Life story is inspiring.

Found this a great read and a very moving account of life in the front line and the after affects of thetrauma of military life.