WACKY WEDNESDAYS IN RINTELN by Eileen Nolan

Anyone who has ever been in the army knows that provided they are not actually on duty at the time, Wednesday afternoons usually mean one of two things – Sport or Mandatory Training or occasionally a mixture of both. I have specific memories of three Wednesday afternoons in Rinteln and I have decided to call them “Wacky Wednesdays” for reasons which will become clear.

Sport - In September 1975, Maggie and I arrived in Rinteln at the start of the second year of our student nurse training. We wanted to get to know people quickly and our tutor suggested sport but neither of us was particularly sporty. Then, as Rinteln had an established orienteering team, it was suggested we might like to join them.

 So, on this particular Wednesday, we joined the team behind the hospital. As we were complete beginners, we were briefed on how to use the map and compass and instructed on what we had to do as we went round the course. We assured the tutor that we understood. I mean, how hard could it be running from A to B with a map, a compass and a whistle, looking for checkpoints? 

The orienteers were in pairs but instead of pairing Maggie and me up with an experienced orienteer each, we were sent off together. Big mistake!

It all started well enough and we found the first marker. However, after a while we realised that there didn’t seem to be anyone else around and we couldn’t find any more markers. It got to the stage where we weren’t even sure we had the map up the right way!! We were hopelessly lost and blowing the whistle didn’t help as there was no one around. So here we were newly arrived from the UK, lost in the german countryside, unable to speak a word of the language. We decided the only thing for it was to find a road and try to make our way back to Rinteln.

It took a while but eventually we heard the sound of traffic and found a road. We saw a village up ahead and as we walked towards the village we caught sight of the name of the village – “HOPE”! I kid you not – that was the actual name of the village. We then found a sign pointing to Rinteln and made our way back to the hospital on the safety of the pavement! Strange thing was that when we arrived back at the hospital, nobody seemed to have missed us! Perhaps orienteering wasn’t for us!

Mandatory Training - Do you remember being issued with your respirator at the QATC? I remember clearly being handed this box which contained this hideous heavy rubber mask with a filter at the side. We had to try it on to make sure it fitted and off we went with our essential piece of kit that may well save our lives in the event of an NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical warfare) attack. Now, how many of you put it in a wardrobe and didn’t think about it again until you came across it when you were packing your bags for a new posting? I mean, it was not something you were likely to be wearing on a regular basis.

One Wednesday afternoon in 1976, we were given notice of mandatory NBC training. We were to report to the field at the back of the hospital in timed slots armed with our respirators. At the appointed time we arrived and we saw a building probably not much bigger than a very large double garage. We were given an NBC suit and reminded how to put our respirators on. Of course, the glass in our respirators steamed up and we were shown, not how to spray a nice anti mist spray on the inside of the glass, but how to spit onto the glass and give it a good rub! It was at this point that I wished I had brought my camera!

Initially we practiced in the open air taking our masks off and on until we were quite proficient. Then we were told that we would be going into the building to practice talking quickly without the mask and putting it back on at speed, eating at speed etc. All easy enough. Then we were told that we were going to do it all again but that a helpful sergeant was going to throw a CS gas canister into the building and we had to do it all again with the company of the gas!! We were instructed not to breathe in the gas or we would regret it and if we did, we should head for the door and get out as quickly as possible. Oh, and keep your eyes closed when you have your mask off! How are you supposed to find the door?

In came the canister but as we were still all masked up at this stage, no problem. The thing about being in a room filled with CS gas is that you can only control your own behaviour! I wasn’t too far from the door which I thought was a good position. The first exercise to remove our masks, recite our name, rank and serial number and get the mask back on again without breathing in the gas, went well. However, as more exercises went on, there I am doing well with my eyes tight shut when I am sent flying by someone who had breathed in the gas, kept her eyes shut and headed in the general direction of the door i.e. me! When you are hit by a flying missile in a room filled with CS gas, the only reaction is to open your eyes and get a lungful of gas!

Oh well. Just glad we didn’t have to experience an NBC attack for real.

When Sport and Mandatory Training Collide - It was a typical Wednesday afternoon with the usual sports in action but we had been informed that those not involved in sports and not on ward duty would be required to participate in mandatory Major Incident Training. We were allocated our roles and informed that we should expect an influx of “casualties” (soldiers from the nearest army base in appropriate make up). As a third year student nurse, I was part of the group tasked with assessing and prioritising the “casualties”. I don’t think we called it Triage in those days!

Now, Rinteln didn’t have a formal emergency unit as such so all the ”casualties” were left in the front hall which was not a large area. As we were working through assessing the “casualties” who incidentally were using a lot of dramatic licence, in through the door comes another casualty in full rugby gear. He was holding his left arm which was in a very peculiar position. He looked in pain but was very controlled unlike those lying on the floor. After a few seconds, I recognised him as one of our doctors who was genuinely injured and not one of our actors.

I mistakenly thought we would be able to get him straight through for treatment but no, it was Major Incident Training and the Officer in Charge felt he had to be prioritised along with all the other “casualties”. I felt so sorry for him but he sat there quietly and he eventually went to theatre that evening to have his shoulder put back in.

Just goes to show that as far as mandatory training goes, it doesn’t matter who you are! Rank certainly had no priviliges that day!

Eileen Nolan

CMH - Sept 74 - Sept 75

BMH Rinteln Sept 75 - Feb 77

Royal Herbert Feb 77 - June 77

QEMH June 77 - July 78

Waiting for War - A Nurse's Story. QARANC. By Kay Foster.

 

22 Field Hospital Bahrain Aug -Dec 1990

In August 1990, I was the Company Commander for Recruit Training at the QA Training Centre. From there, I was deployed to the Gulf with the second wave of medical personal, joining 22 Field Hospital in Bahrain. I was heading into, - to quote Saddam Hussain "the Mother of All Wars".

On our arrival in Bahrain, our group was split up, and we were accommodated in 5-star hotels around Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Week by week the British troops arrived, at first it was the Army, then the RAF. The RAF were to play a significant role in Gulf War 1 with the formidable Tornado and Jaguar planes. For security purposes, the top floor of our hotel was ring-fenced for British troops, which in essence became our bar. Alcohol was permissible in hotels for non-Muslims. Life was pretty comfortable for us for the first few months; accommodation was superb, we could venture around Manama, and spent free time exploring the souks and swimming in the hotel pool.

We did have to work however. We were bused down daily to RAF Muharraq situated near Bahrain International Airport, where 22 Field Hospital was established. Our route was never the same, as we were wary of a terrorist attack. Once at the Field Hospital we spent many hours training, having lectures and practising working in our Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) kit. These suits were lined with charcoal and on top of these we wore gas masks, rubber gloves and rubber boots over our outdoor military boots. The temperatures in Bahrain in August, September could rise as high as 39C. Climbing into NBC suits was unbearable and therefore practise time was restricted to avoid heat exhaustion. How were we going to cope with nursing patients? This added another fear to my knowledge that I was a novice when it came to working in a war zone. Sadden Hussain's reputation as a thug, bully, murderer was well known. How would we survive if he did use his weapons of mass destruction?



In Maharraq we set up our field hospital. Most of the hospital was established from the remnants of kit from the Second World War 51 years earlier! It was hot and dark working in the green canvas tents. White mesh was used to try and screen the tents from the intense Middle East temperatures.

The order was given that we would whitewash the green canvas tents to reduce the temperatures within, which it did by a degree or two. It was arduous work, and the theatre staff had a brain wave. They collected the fire extinguishers, somehow filled them with whitewash and sprayed them on the tents. This act of using their initiative was not rewarded with the order of merit, but punishment for misuse of Her Majesties property!



At first, the move to Bahrain was exciting, a new place to visit, we still had freedom, we could eat out, shop etc., and the Bahrain people made us feel very welcome. We got invited as guests to some of the local Bahrain and expatriate community for meals. However, there was always the threat of terrorist activities. After a while, it did get a bit tedious; we were waiting for over four months before the War started.

In due course, the American Medics joined us at our base. They arrived in style. Their hospital consisted of mobile containers with air conditioners, swivel chairs, pump up and down beds and all mod cons. All in all this made us feel like their poor cousins. However, The Americans had experienced a long protracted war in Vietnam, since the Second World War and their kit was state of the art. They were now well-disciplined, well-trained troops, very different from those iconic photographs of troops smoking pot through their rifle butts during the Vietnam War. 

Royal Navy Medics were stationed on the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Argus and could be seen not far off the shores of Bahrain. The Argos was used in the Falklands War and then in Gulf War 1 some ten years later. It had a 70-bed capacity and fitted with ITU facilities. 

Over the five months from August 1990 to January 1991 when Gulf War 1 started, massive deployment of military human resources and equipment from the allies was the largest since the Second World War. There was an anticipation of a brutal war from a ruthless man. The allies knew that Saddam Hussain had chemical weapons, he had used it on the Kurds in 1988. He was, therefore, threatened that if he did use chemical weapons on the allied troops, the consequence could mean a nuclear intervention.



I stayed with 22 Field Hospital until just before Christmas 1990, when I joined 33 Field Hospital in Al Jubail Saudi Arabia. Bahrain was the quiet before the storm. War has been described as “ many days of boredom punctuated with moments of terror" I was to meet the terror on the 17th January 1991, when the War started.


Major Kay Foster (Retd) QARANC. 

I joined the QA's in 1977- 1994. My quest was to nurse, travel, have a career with adventures and excitement. Be stretched in my professional life, no two days to be the same - I am not one for routine. Some posting took me outside the hospital, as Inservice Training Officer, Woman's Services Liaison Officer, Expedition Nurse, Company Commander of NCO Recruit Training. I served in London, Hong Kong, Nepal, Germany, Wales, Canada, Aldershot, Peru, Falkland Islands, First Gulf War. My holidays in these global postings took me many other countries to include Communist China, Alaska, USA, Australia, Bruni, Cyprus, Europe, and countries in the communist Eastern Block.