Reservists get taste of real-life war zone at Shropshire training camp - with video and pictures

Over 200 reserves along with regular RAF officers are at Nesscliffe Training Camp, near Oswestry, for two weeks, as part of Exercise Meddygol Opps, providing training and demonstrating how forces establish a medical treatment facility in a hostile environment.

A situation unfolded at the camp where a solider was shot through the shoulder and gunfire echoed out around the camp.

A medical team arrived in seconds, along with a protection unit who secured the area, treated the injury and took the man to a field hospital on the camp.

Reserves from all over the country, trained in their field attended to the patient in a situation designed to replicate ones seen every day by reserves in Afghanistan and other war zones.

Sqaudron Leader Sarah Charters, who is a consultant nurse in the emergency department at Southampton General Hospital, has been a reservist for 27 years.

She described how vital reserves are to the forces, and how valuable these training exercises are.

She said: "The exercise is what it would be like on a real tour.

"The skills that these reserves get in this role is taken back into the NHS and the skills are of benefit to the NHS also.

"The care given in these field hospitals are of the standard of NHS hospitals across the country, it is to the highest level.

"You increase your skills and take them back into your day job so both sides are benefitting from this."

It is not just military situations that this training helps with, as Squadron Leader Charters explained.

"Having reserves with these skills also help people to deal with real life situations, such as a terrorist scenario or a car crash," she said.

"It means people can respond effectively through what they have learnt with the military."

This week marks an important week for the forces, with those who juggle the military and a civilian career celebrated as part of Reserves Day.

That is what 49-year-old nurse Flight Sergeant Steve Pickles does.

Born and bred in Whittington, near Oswestry, he joined the RAF as part of air traffic control in 1990, before re-training as a nurse and becoming a reserve in 2004.

He now works at the Minor Injuries Unit in Oswestry, and juggles his normal life with tours in the military, carrying out two in Afghanistan.

He said he believes the job is extremely rewarding, but can't be done without the help and support of a caring family.

He said: "I missed some of the fun, and a sense of belonging that you share with other people who serve.

"The opportunity came up to do it again and it was a chance for a challenge and a chance to travel.

"I served twice in 2008 and 2012, and my employers were very supportive with me when I had to go and do my training, and when I was deployed.

"It was hard serving and getting back to normal life is something that is a hard part, but the skills I have gained on tour are transferred back into the NHS.

"This is not something you can do without your family on board, or your friends, it is like having a second full time job and you need that support."

To train as a reservist you must take on six weekends of training a year, alongside 15 training days of training exercises.

Currently the number of reserves stands at just over 196,000 in the UK Forces, and Kara-Jo Nevins, who was on hand during the real scenario at Nescliffe, is someone who recruits the reserves.

A junior NCO recruiter, she was a former regular in the army as a chef, before worked in theatre at the Walsall Manor Hospital.

From Aldridge, Kara-Jo is now a fill time reserve, sees many reserves signing up to serve

She added: "We see young people coming through and the enthusiasm is fantastic, enthusiasm to be involved in scenarios like this.

"For there to be reserves there has to be employers who understand the situation and NHS trusts are fantastic now in letting these people serve as reserves."

RAF Medical Reserves are drawn from all over the country, with squads from RAF Brize Norton and Leuchars Station in Scotland spending two weeks in Shropshire as part of the training exercise, along with reserves from the US Army and RAF.

However other officers from within Shropshire were part of the training, with Flying Officer Lisa Page, from Prees, joined as a biomedical scientists in 2011, and has travelled all over the world.

Now a medical support officer, she juggles her commitments alongside her job as a haematology team manager at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.

"I saw a role advertised and I thought I have a skill I've had for 10 years that I can use to benefit the RAF, and it was a new challenge.

"I had something that could help others, it would help grow, and the whole experience in six years has made me more confidence.

"I was deployed quite quickly and was the blood transfusion lead, and the tour was a good experience and a lot of responsibility.

"Another plus is the amount I've travelled on individual training exercises, I've been Everest base camp, to New Zealand, Norway, I'm off to France next week, where we will learn about using are skills in a humanitarian crisis'.

"It shows it is not just about what is happening today, but these skills can be used in a whole host of different scenarios.

"Employers understand that we come back more skilled than when we went.

"In the UK you might deal with a major trauma a couple of times a year, but out there you are dealing with one five times a day."

The scenario played out in the Nesscliffe fields on Wednesday could have been in a war zone, where medical staff have to act fast to save lives on a daily basis.

Squadron Leader Charters added: "By seeing exercises like this it shows the public what reserves can do, and the standard of care we provide within the forces."