Reflections on 20 Years As an Army Reserve Doctor: Live a Life Less Ordinary
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FEATURE Reflections on 20 years as an Army Reserve doctor: live a life less ordinary BY STEPHEN KEOGHANE Challenger 2 firing, 2014 t seems a very short time ago that enormously these opportunities are inside the turret of a modern main my predecessor recruited me into my open to the readers of Urology News. battle tank and the frequently regiment as a surgical senior house unpredictable atmosphere of a high I officer during a varicose vein operation History tech operating theatre. Recent re- in a cottage hospital in Stroud, informing The Yeomanry or Reserve Cavalry evaluation of teaching methods in me that I would be only the fourth doctor were formed in the late 1700s against the military has utilised techniques to serve in a Gloucestershire Hussar a threat of French invasion, serving that are well established in teaching squadron since the war. in South Africa in the 1900s and surgery and are equally applicable to The interview process that followed throughout both World Wars. reserve soldiers, including achieving in 1994 had probably not changed for In 1947 the Territorial Army (TA) was competency in ‘chunks’ of training, decades, involving supper in the mess reconstituted and at that time, there and not progressing until the mentor is and discussion of shooting and equine were 26 regiments of the reformed comfortable. sports. Royal Armoured Corps. Subsequent Twenty years of soldiering, sport and major re-organisations of the TA, now Retention a varied and privileged social life have rebranded as the Army Reserve, have Throughout decades of change within passed far too rapidly and at a time taken place over the past 60 years. the Reserve, the motivation for these when the Reserve forces are expanding The part-time ethos has changed; the locally recruited, and possibly last Army Reserve is an inherent part of the remaining, true ‘County Soldiers’ British Army and now a serious second remains constant. They attend career. on weekday evenings, sometimes The Royal Wessex Yeomanry is now commuting for hours, primarily to see the nation’s only Armoured Reserve their mates and because they don’t Regiment, providing trained crews for wish to be seen letting down their local the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank, one unit. of the most complex and advanced There are very few other pastimes armoured fighting vehicles in the world or hobbies that allow continuity today. with friends possibly extending over decades. This affection for one’s Training regiment which far outweighs the There are many similarities between loyalty felt towards medical schools, is The regimental polo team, 2008 the dynamic, changing environment impossible to quantify to a civilian but urology news | JULY/AUGUST 2015| VOL 19 NO 5 | www.urologynews.uk.com FEATURE Afghanistan, 2011 Armoured battlegroup exercise Germany, 1996 Camp Bastion Hospital Afghanistan, 2011 is vitally important to tribal reservists. join the Army Reserve when you are The high points of my career have “There are many young. When you are then in your 40s included acting as duty doctor to similarities between you will look back at a life that has armoured battle groups in Germany been truly fulfilling outside medicine. and the UK, training with tanks in the the dynamic, changing Texan desert with the US National Guard and, of course, the humbling environment inside Useful resources experience of a tour of Afghanistan in the turret of a modern www.army.mod.uk/armoured-reserve 2011. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Royal-Wessex main battle tank Yeomanry/532525806762729 Afghanistan Having completed the war surgery and the frequently course at Birmingham, the simulated hospital exercise in a replica of Bastion unpredictable in York and the military operational atmosphere of a high surgical training (MOST) course based in the dissecting room of the Royal tech operating theatre.” College of Surgeons, I deployed to Afghanistan in the Summer of 2011. The learning curve with war Lt Col Stephen surgery was steep, the hours long Keoghane, and unpredictable, but the surgical Regimental Medical Officer, The Royal Wessex Yeomanry; principles were as we had been taught excitement when the Blackhawk and during build-up training. Within two Chinook helicopters were inbound, Consultant Urologist, Queen Alexandra Hospital, weeks I had experienced, and was and the sombre atmosphere that Portsmouth, UK. comfortable with, most injuries, sometimes followed. Declaration of E: stephen.keoghane@ competing working as part of a two-man team with Of my many achievements in porthosp.nhs.uk interests: a US Navy surgeon. medicine from graduation at the None declared. The quality of medical care was high; Middlesex to consultant appointment, by 09:30 all patients had been seen and this experience of war surgery was the discussed three times with a further most professionally rewarding, taking a ward round at 20:00. As well as the urologist outside his comfort zone. well publicised trauma cases, it must The social life in a Yeomanry not be forgotten that the population Regiment has included dinners and of Bastion was huge and there were balls at some of the great country plenty of general surgical and indeed houses in the southwest of England, urological emergencies. sailing, skiing, polo and horse racing I have many memories of and the quintessentially British Afghanistan: the dramatic desert Cavalry Memorial Parade in Hyde Park sunsets, the last post at vigil complete with bowler hat and rolled ceremonies for UK dead, the surreal umbrella. experience of seeing detainees on If you are bored with your routine morning ward rounds, the mounting and contemplating a ‘life less ordinary’ urology news | JULY/AUGUST 2015| VOL 19 NO 5 | www.urologynews.uk.com.