We should remember that our personnel are much luckier than many of the victims of the Afghan War who do not have access to the type of care that we can provide in the UK.
The programme is on at 21:00 on Wednesday 23rd September on BBC1. The BBC has this:
For the first time, the Ministry Of Defence has allowed television cameras to follow the recovery and rehabilitation of severely injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Lance Corporal Tom Neathway, one of the subjects of the BBC One documentary Wounded, talks to BBC Press Information’s Tony Matthews.
Tom Neathway was on a routine patrol in Kajaki, Helmand Province, when, as he puts it, his life took a different path. “We entered a compound to observe the Taliban,” says Tom, a lance corporal in the Parachute Regiment. “We’d been into the compound before and had carried out all the correct procedures with the metal detectors to look for bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – we found no metal signature whatsoever. I was on sniper cover and went to a hole in the corner of the wall through which I could observe and fire. There was a sandbag in the way and when I moved it the device detonated.”
Tom likens the force of the explosion to a full-on rugby tackle. “It knocked me backwards and I realised straight away that my feet had been taken off,” he says. “I still had my left arm, but it was badly damaged.
“It must have been something new,” he says, “the Taliban are as clever as hell and we knew the threat was there. Before that, they had used smaller anti-personnel mines and big IEDs with lots of metal content in, but they’d changed to material that the metal detectors won’t pick up.”
Like Tom Neathway, 19-year-old Royal Irish Ranger Andy Allen was in a critical condition when he arrived back at Birmingham’s Selly Oak hospital, which handles all serious battlefield casualties. BBC One’s documentary, Wounded, begins at the moment when Andy was blown up by an IED. Losing his right leg instantly, he sustained severe burns to his face and eyes. Once back in the UK, the hospital’s joint military and NHS medical teams had to amputate his other leg in order to save his life.
Andy and Tom were among 65 British casualties seriously injured in Afghanistan during 2008. In an at times harrowing but ultimately inspirational film, Wounded tells the story of their fight for life, their eventual recovery and rehabilitation, and the effect it has on them and their families.
As their burns and plastic surgery consultant Lieutenant Colonel Steve Jeffrey explains in the film, it would be completely unnatural for any severely injured soldier not to be devastated. “One minute they’re in Afghanistan, the next they’re waking up and they haven’t got legs, an arm or whatever,” he says, “but I’ve noticed that those guys that are in a stable relationship seem to do better.” For Andy, whose girlfriend, Natalie, was expecting their first child, the target is to get better in time for the arrival of their baby. Meanwhile, Tom’s focus is on walking unaided on prosthetic legs in time to attend the medal ceremony at his regiment’s homecoming parade. “I was six feet tall and 11 stone,” he says, “now I’m four feet and eight stone, but I’m determined not to look like this… I’m not one to give up.”
Having remained fully conscious after the explosion, Tom already knew how badly injured he was before he came out of sedation in Selly Oak Hospital. “I didn’t realise that my left arm had been amputated and my legs were a hell of a lot shorter because of an infection,” he says, “but, if anything, my mind was set on things being worse. I was a bit gutted for about 10 minutes, but there’s nothing you can do, so I just focused on getting up as soon as I possibly could. I’ve not been devastated by it; my parents found it a hell of a lot worse than I have, but seeing how I’ve reacted they can’t be down in the dumps whatsoever.”
Andy’s recovery was hampered by the damage to his sight, which in turn affected his ability to adjust to the loss of his legs. He admits on camera to being scared and reluctant to get on with his rehabilitation, while realising that it is his fastest route home. It takes eight months before his family and friends are eventually able to welcome him back to Belfast. A cataract operation gives him enough sight to help with mobility and see his baby son; it’s a significant boost for a young man who faces a further two years in and out of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court in Surrey.
Tom’s and Andy’s paths cross at Headley Court, where they find a common bond among soldiers with similar injuries, such as Royal Marine Mark Ormrod who, like Tom, is a triple-amputee. “One of the things that got me through is being around guys in similar positions, like Mark Ormrod and Joe Townsend, who can talk me through things,” says Tom. “They were there with me every day at Headley Court and are my closest mates now. They started their rehabilitation before me, and I could see what they were achieving and where I would be seven months down the line.”
In turn, Tom and Mark now visit men returning to Selly Oak with serious injuries. “When they’re lying in that bed, they think their lives have ended,” Tom reflects, “but they haven’t, they’ve literally just begun, it’s just taken a different path. We tell it how it is, and they are shocked because I skydive and go skiing and we both drive stupid cars and crack on with life completely.”
Now 25, Tom feels that age and experience is an important factor in the recovery process. “I’ve done Iraq twice, I’ve been to Northern Ireland, I’ve been blown-up previous to what happened in Afghanistan, I’ve lived life a bit more,” he says. “Guys of 18 and 19 have less experience and it’s hard for them, that’s why it’s good having guys like Mark and I around to show them that life doesn’t end.”
Tom, who comes from Worcester, now has a new job lined up in administration for the parachute school at RAF Brize Norton, and recently took some time off for a holiday in America. “I’ve been away sailing, fishing and water-skiing. It’s an important part of rehabilitation,” he says. “You need a break so that when you come back you’re willing to crack on again. Mainly I do rehab under the NHS at Birmingham, but they’ve called me back to Headley Court for a couple of weeks to check on my legs, but I’m improving.”
He describes the help and care that wounded soldiers receive as exceptional. “Everything has been 100 per cent,” he says, “we couldn’t have asked them to look after us any better.” But was the recovery process made more difficult by the presence of a camera crew? “I wasn’t keen at first,” he admits, “but my friends and family thought it would be a good idea for the public to see what happens to the guys returning home injured. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
“The camera crew are awesome and we’re all friends now,” he adds. “They were with me through the worst times and in my good times and I was able to talk to them. It actually became quite easy – an everyday thing that they were there.”
Tom Neathway hopes that Wounded will give the public an insight into how young men with life-changing injuries can rebuild their lives. “You hear about the men getting killed, which should be shown, but it’s only recently you’ve started to hear about the guys with injuries like mine and what we go through,” he says. “I’m in my own house, I drive my own car, I’ve got a girlfriend and I’m back at work – if you didn’t know you’d think I was just a normal everyday bloke.”
While Andy’s girlfriend, Natalie, stood by him, one of Tom’s biggest worries, like many injured soldiers, was whether women would still be interested in him. “That knocked me a little bit at first,” he says, “but I’ve got a good personality and chicks are great – they don’t look at you for that sort of stuff, [the injuries] don’t bother them and that boosted my confidence massively.”
On reflection, does he regret going to Afghanistan and the direction his life has taken as a result? “I would definitely do it again,” he says. “I never thought about being injured, if you thought like that you’d be scared of going. Up until I got injured I loved it out there. Without wishing to sound nasty, I liked getting into fights with the Taliban… it was exactly what I joined the Paras to do. You get a massive buzz from it and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
And what about the public reaction; does he feel that the job the soldiers are doing is fully appreciated back home in the UK? “My personal opinion is that wounded soldiers should get more recognition, and that’s only starting to come about now,” he says. “The public are starting to realise that what we do needs to be supported. I get people stopping me in the street and asking what’s happened and if I go to a bar I won’t pay for a drink all night! I think people need to know, it doesn’t bother me talking about it.”
