I’ve not done a book review for a while and this week I had planned to do a post about my recent trip to ACE Squadron and their Mk26b Spitfires, but this book changed my plans and that piece will be posted in a few weeks time.
Chinook Crew ‘Chick’ is a very open and honest account of life in the forces and the immediate aftermath of leaving. I’ve read a lot of forces autobiographies over the years, attracted to the genre by my own time spent in the Territorial Army and latterly as a Cadet Forces volunteer. This ranks up there as one of the most compelling I’ve read. Quite a few things stand out for me in this account of Liz’s life during and immediately after her service and I’ve tried to cover most of it below, without giving too much away.
The overall narration of the story mirrors how, I presume, Liz was feeling during each phase of her life that’s documented in the book. It starts out full of wide-eyed excitement, with the joy of a new adventure with youth on her side, but during the book, which isn’t a lengthy read, it gradually becomes much more melancholy and sombre, before the ending that is, I’m sure, just Liz’s beginning.
Although I never deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, quite a few of my mates did go on Op Telic and Op Herrick to Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. I vividly remember their excitement as they did their pre-deployment training and this is, as Liz describes it in her book – the chance to go and do the job that they had trained for. It’s what all service personnel who I worked with wanted to do. I also recall speaking to a few of them (well writing via email) whilst they were deployed and again, the danger was just something they got on with, although I’m sure the stress of this builds up over the years – and that is part of the backdrop of this book too.
I really like the way she chose to focus on the people during her time in the forces. Not just the people she served with, but the people who were affected directly by the war in Afghanistan. All too often, forces memoirs tend to follow a regimented pattern, perhaps unsurprisingly given the background of the authors who write them, and by the way I make absolutely no apologies for that pun. The pattern tends to be a chronological account of the author’s progress through the ranks and their awards and achievements, and that’s fine, but I want to know about thoughts and feelings and what was fun too. Liz captures this excellently, and throughout the whole book, I cannot recall one mention of rank, apart from a throwaway comment towards the end that rank is unimportant to her. She also frequently muses about ‘was it worth it?’ and ‘what was the point?’ which I think combined with her later work for a charity and her current work trying to raise awareness of PTSD shows her to be a selfless character and a real people person.
I related to a lot of what Liz had to say and found her narrative and honesty compelling. There are some really difficult to read moments in the book, particularly the account of her near tragedy toward the end of the book, but it’s rare that someone in my experience has ever written about this in such minute detail minute by minute, including their thoughts and reasoning.
It also struck me how easy it is for someone to acquire powerful drugs with little or no oversight on usage – although we do also live in a society that promotes and condones drinking a powerful and addictive drug as ‘normal’, but we make that ok by calling it alcohol rather than a drug, so perhaps its not that surprising.
I think the sections towards the end that deal with PTSD and the transition to civilian life from the forces are one of the first, if not the only first hand accounts I’ve ever read of the reality of adapting to life away from the life you’ve loved. And let’s be clear: it is a life, not just a job, which is almost certainly why it hits so hard, especially if you don’t want to leave. I don’t think anyone who has not experienced a military environment can easily relate to this, but Liz does a great job of putting you inside her mind and the thoughts and feelings that came to dominate her life during that period.
The main take away for me after reading this book is that a lot of strong people are sometimes struggling more than you think they are, and just doing a great job of hiding it. I think this book starts a great conversation about that, and I’m not sure many people would have been able to write such an honest and open memoir that exposes their thoughts and feelings to the world.
In summary, Chinook Crew ‘Chick’ may not be the forces book you think you bought, but it is the one you should read, and the one you will remember, and hopefully it will save somebody’s life.
Dan Roach Flying Author 