Chinook Crew 'Chick': Highs and Lows of Forces Life from the Longest Serving Female RAF Chinook Force Crewmember

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Yes, I have,” she said. “Having had the book come out [all her mental health challenges are] now completely out in the world. And the more I’m talking about it, the more it is genuinely OK now.

CHINOOK CHICK - Apple Podcasts ‎The Andy Rowe Show: CHINOOK CHICK - Apple Podcasts

From dodging bullets to saving soldiers and witnessing the brutality and loss of war, Liz discusses how she found herself bringing the battlefield home, despite her fighting days being over. What follows is sketchy, but the next memory McConaghy has is waking up from a 40-hour coma in a hospital bed in Basingstoke. Miraculously, she had survived. But how? It turns out, after swallowing the pills, she had called Samaritans and the emergency services. The good thing about the Chinook”Liz explained , “compared to something like the Puma and even the Merlin is that it’s got a lot of redundant space. So you can take a lot around you, a lot of battle damage and as long as the engines are still running and you are still going, then you’re okay. The book is an honest and humorous account of Liz’s ‘ best of times and worst of times’ and how her experiences flying on the Chinook have changed and moulded her into the woman she has become. Just seconds from smashing into the ground, the co-pilot managed to regain control and the Chinook soared into the sky. They had escaped death by a hair’s breadth.AeroTime sat down with McConaghy to talk about the Chinook, women in the military and the importance of talking about our mental health.

Liz McConaghy - Yeovil Literary Festival

Xtended can also be found on Apple Podcasts, the Google Podcast app, Spotify and wherever else you normally listen to podcasts. As a resillience speaker and mental health speaker, Liz’s story offers hope to those who have also found themselves in the darkest places and are looking for the tools within themselves to begin rebuilding a pathway to a new life.Aged 21, Liz was the youngest member of the aircrew to deploy to Iraq and the only female crew member on the Chinook wing for four years, so her story is entirely unique. Anyone who’s lost someone to suicide can kind of hear my story and realise they couldn’t have done anything to help. I [was] so far down the PTSD route that nobody could stop me. I think it’s an important message for people who have been affected by suicide to know that. That’s the questions [that] are always left after suicide, isn’t it? What could I have done to help them? How could I have stopped them doing that? Just like anything in our body that breaks, with time, rest and the right people to help you recover, we can mend our broken brains. I’ve closed the door on that dark tunnel and am walking a new, more positive path.” Liz became the longest serving female Chinook aircrew member after serving for 17 years. Liz reflects on why she stayed for so long, and why she eventually had to leave. By way of a parting message for readers, McConaghy appeals to anyone going through similar issues she has experienced to seek help.

Chinook Crew ‘Chick’, Liz McConaghy | Xtended Ep.153 – Chinook Crew ‘Chick’, Liz McConaghy | Xtended

Originally from a small town in Co. Down, Northern Ireland, she attended RAF Cranwell on her 19th birthday to begin her exciting career. contemporary research surrounding resilience, mindset, and posttraumatic growth, and explores the strategies that can transform personal trauma into personal On this week’s podcast Adam sits down with Cameron Hardiman former Victorian and AFP Police Officer. Veterans are their own worst enemy.” McConaghy explained. “We never ask for help, mostly because it’s been bred into us. You’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to be resilient. All those things that the military teach you to be becomes your make-up. So, it’s really hard to ask for help when you’re getting out [of the military] or are out.

And I never not wanted to go and if I hadn’t gone, it meant somebody else had to go in my place. Somebody else [who] had to do an extra one or one of the new guys who wasn’t combat ready had to go instead when he wasn’t quite ready to go. I was always really worried that someone would have to take my bullet, you feel like if you don’t go, what if something happens and I’m meant to be there and I’m not? That kind of kept me in the job, certainly for those ten years. “ The book touches on, but is not dominated by, the theme of women in the armed forces. This is a topic that has been constantly in the UK news following a series of sex-related scandals. But McConaghy is pragmatic, explaining that in her experience, the men have never treated her or the only other female on her squadron any differently.