Never Broken Read Online Free
Author: Hannah Campbell
comprehend what happened is through my injuries.
I left Iraq on an Aero Med plane, which is literally a flying hospital, exactly two days after the blast. All flights left Basra at night as the cover of darkness meant there was less risk of being attacked by a missile. I was pushed out onto the tarmac by a one-on-one nurse, who was to care for me all the way home, just like you’d get in an Intensive Care ward. Lying on my back due to my injuries, all I could see was the stars in the night sky. The air was warm and balmy, with just the sound of voices in the background as they prepared the flight.
Just before I boarded, my Garrison Sergeant Major came to see me: the highest non-commissioned officer in the camp. I was so off my face on painkillers, the only thing I slurred to him was: ‘It’s a really good job I had my bikini line waxed the night before I got blown up!’ When the nurse told me this later, I was mortified. Apparently he took it well, although understandably he went slightly puce and muttered, ‘Very good.’
As I was wheeled inside the plane I started crying, saying: ‘What if they mortar us as I can’t get off the stretcher?’ ‘My nurse said: ‘No – you will be OK.’ I felt such profound terror that they decided to sedate me. Halfway through the flight I stirred when the plane’s engines seemed incredibly noisy. Military planes aren’t insulated in the same way as commercial planes. I looked sideways and saw someone with plasters and bandages all over his legs and face: it was Karl Croft. He’d managed to come on as a walking casualty rather than on a stretcher. It was comforting to see him there, even if he did look a bit like an Egyptian mummy.
My nurse patted my hand and said: ‘Go back to sleep. Everything’s OK. We’re on the way home.’
As I drifted off into a deep sleep, my thoughts turned tobeing back home and with my family. My last memory before blacking out is of seeing Milly’s smiling face in my mind’s eye and an overwhelming feeling of relief I was heading home.
CHAPTER TWO
CHILDHOOD AND JOINING THE ARMY
A s I blinked my eyes open several times the pain in my head was just excruciating. At first I struggled to focus, then I saw a bedside table with some flowers. The small picture of Milly I always carried under my body armour close to my heart was propped against the vase and, looking down at my body, I became aware I was wearing a hospital gown and tightly tucked into a bed. After a few seconds the reality set in: I was back in the UK and safe. A wave of relief washed over me.
A nurse seemed to come from nowhere. She took my hand and said: ‘Hannah, you’re in Intensive Care at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. You’re safe and we’re going to make you better again. Squeeze my hand if you understand what I’m saying.’ I used all my strength to give her hand a tight squeeze, she smiled at me and with that, I drifted back off into sleep.
This was the pattern for the next few days in there as I slowly began to recover. I was in a sort of half-state between waking and sleeping, mainly because of the painkillers I’d been given. The times I was awake soon began to increase and it’s fair to say lying in bed gives you a lot of time for reflection. I was in a lot of pain with my injuries, but even then I had decided I needed to find the strength to fight back to good health: I had Milly and Jamie to think of, as well as my family, and I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let them down. I found my memory drifting back in time to everything that had lead me to where I was that day.
It’s fair to say that when I first joined the Army I was more Private Benjamin than a serious recruit. But what life in the Army gives you is a grit and backbone that will get you through anything in life and I knew this was what would help me battle back now. Even as a little girl I was made for a career in the Army, although I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. With three brothers:
I left Iraq on an Aero Med plane, which is literally a flying hospital, exactly two days after the blast. All flights left Basra at night as the cover of darkness meant there was less risk of being attacked by a missile. I was pushed out onto the tarmac by a one-on-one nurse, who was to care for me all the way home, just like you’d get in an Intensive Care ward. Lying on my back due to my injuries, all I could see was the stars in the night sky. The air was warm and balmy, with just the sound of voices in the background as they prepared the flight.
Just before I boarded, my Garrison Sergeant Major came to see me: the highest non-commissioned officer in the camp. I was so off my face on painkillers, the only thing I slurred to him was: ‘It’s a really good job I had my bikini line waxed the night before I got blown up!’ When the nurse told me this later, I was mortified. Apparently he took it well, although understandably he went slightly puce and muttered, ‘Very good.’
As I was wheeled inside the plane I started crying, saying: ‘What if they mortar us as I can’t get off the stretcher?’ ‘My nurse said: ‘No – you will be OK.’ I felt such profound terror that they decided to sedate me. Halfway through the flight I stirred when the plane’s engines seemed incredibly noisy. Military planes aren’t insulated in the same way as commercial planes. I looked sideways and saw someone with plasters and bandages all over his legs and face: it was Karl Croft. He’d managed to come on as a walking casualty rather than on a stretcher. It was comforting to see him there, even if he did look a bit like an Egyptian mummy.
My nurse patted my hand and said: ‘Go back to sleep. Everything’s OK. We’re on the way home.’
As I drifted off into a deep sleep, my thoughts turned tobeing back home and with my family. My last memory before blacking out is of seeing Milly’s smiling face in my mind’s eye and an overwhelming feeling of relief I was heading home.
CHAPTER TWO
CHILDHOOD AND JOINING THE ARMY
A s I blinked my eyes open several times the pain in my head was just excruciating. At first I struggled to focus, then I saw a bedside table with some flowers. The small picture of Milly I always carried under my body armour close to my heart was propped against the vase and, looking down at my body, I became aware I was wearing a hospital gown and tightly tucked into a bed. After a few seconds the reality set in: I was back in the UK and safe. A wave of relief washed over me.
A nurse seemed to come from nowhere. She took my hand and said: ‘Hannah, you’re in Intensive Care at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. You’re safe and we’re going to make you better again. Squeeze my hand if you understand what I’m saying.’ I used all my strength to give her hand a tight squeeze, she smiled at me and with that, I drifted back off into sleep.
This was the pattern for the next few days in there as I slowly began to recover. I was in a sort of half-state between waking and sleeping, mainly because of the painkillers I’d been given. The times I was awake soon began to increase and it’s fair to say lying in bed gives you a lot of time for reflection. I was in a lot of pain with my injuries, but even then I had decided I needed to find the strength to fight back to good health: I had Milly and Jamie to think of, as well as my family, and I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let them down. I found my memory drifting back in time to everything that had lead me to where I was that day.
It’s fair to say that when I first joined the Army I was more Private Benjamin than a serious recruit. But what life in the Army gives you is a grit and backbone that will get you through anything in life and I knew this was what would help me battle back now. Even as a little girl I was made for a career in the Army, although I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. With three brothers:
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