Thoughts of past, present and future by Wendy H. Jones

When you are the first person to write a blog for the New Year it is simultaneously an honour, exciting and nerve-racking. The nerve-racking part is because you feel you ought to be writing something tremendous - earth shattering even. This is how I feel writing this. Where on earth do I start representing an organisation which counts so many amazing people amongst its family? It’s a tricky one but I decided to channel my inner Jacob Marley and introduce the ghosts of past present and future. 

Being Scottish, New Year is important to me and I nearly always managed to wangle the time off. Mainly by doing night duty over Christmas I might add. But, I know that all over the world, there were always plenty of parties happening in messes and NAAFIs.. The military never missed an excuse for a knees up and always wanted to see the New Year in in style. During my time serving, I did manage to usher in the bells in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Germany and Israel, with friends and colleagues I will never forget. And I want to pick up on that word - forget, it is so easy for us to forget the stories of the magical time we had while at we are or were serving and this blog is a way of addressing that. We all have stories to share, stories which are important, no matter how mundane we personally might think them. They are an important record of QA, and indeed Military, history. We want to capture the stories of our time in the services using this blog. If you would like to share a story, please contact me via email on wendy@wendyhjones.com. I would love to work with you to write a blog. We all want to hear of your experiences. 

So, our ghost of the past hands over to the Ghost of the present, who has the most difficult job I feel. The present is something no one will forget in a hurry. As the bells rang in the New Year 2021 the BBC were reporting that Military Medical Personnel were on standby to support the NHS against an overwhelming influx of COVID patients, and most of the country was, and still are, in Tier 4 lockdown. This is probably a New Year most of us would like to forget but won’t in a hurry. If you are in the military and working this year, know your retired colleagues are thinking of you. 

And so to the future. Much as I have enjoyed being Jacob Marley it’s impossible for me to predict the future as I have no ghost to help me. What I do have is the knowledge that a record number of QARANC personnel were awarded honours in the Queen's New Years Honours List. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them. What I can say with the utmost certainty is that the future of the QARANC is in, not only safe, but truly magical hands. 

Let's raise a glass of our favourite beverage - to all QAs, past, present, and future, I salute you. It is an honour to be counted in your midst

To continue with our literary vibe, I will misquote  Clement Clarke Moore and The Night Before Christmas - Happy New Year to all, and to all a good night.

About the Author

Wendy H. Jones served as a Nursing Officer in the QARANC between 1987 and 2004 leaving with the rank of Major. She never went on an operational tour but undertook many exercises as well as serving in numerous units in both the UK and overseas. Hong Kong and Jerusalem had to be two of the highlights. Moving into nurse education, she was proud to have served as Tri-Service Head of Pre-Registration Nurse Education. This brought her full circle to where she started as a student nurse in the QARNNS. She is now an author and lives in Scotland.