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How the hell was he supposed to get used to that?

Behind a desk wasn’t where he functioned best All his career he had experienced the adrenalin kick, the fear, the buzz, and he’d been in control

Now, as galling as it was to admit, he felt lost

Suddenly, the heli filled with dust as it dropped, the rotor blades churning up the ground covering and drawing it into the back on the air currents, blinding them all Ash buried his nose into his combat jacket like a filter so that he could breathe And then they landed, rough and abrupt, and the dust was sucked quickly instantly out, leaving the aircraft clear again

It took everything Ash had to fight his instinct to jump out of the back ahead of his QRF to help secure the area around the heli, safe zone or not As two of hisacross the open ground carrying a litter-bound casualty, the other two men leapt up to uns respectively They were smooth and slick and Ash nodded to himself in satisfaction It hat he’d expected, but still, it was good to see

‘RTA on the Main Supply Route,’ the young team medic for the soldiers’ unit rushed ahead to the heli to brief the MERT, yelling over the din ‘Local guy driving a flatbed truck across the bridge running perpendicular above us when he suffered a tyre blow out and lost control Nothing he could do, his truck jack-knifed and he crashed through the barrier and landed on our convoy We’ve got three casualties’

Even as he finished, the soldiers had already reached them with the first casualty and the Major and her teaan theirthe injured local man to hobble to the heli, an open fracture to one ar wounded, that was always preferable The teams would settle him in a seat and then pass him on to the camp hospital for care But, even from across the helicopter, Ash could see that the first victinificant crush injuries He wasn’t a doctor but Ash had enough experience to know All vital signs were absent and, to all intents and purposes, the soldier was gone But it wasn’t the MERT’s place to call time of death; they didn’t have the authority That could only be done when they returned to Camp Razorwire and a team from the hospital came out

Not that you’d know it fron of defeat in her expression, nothing to knock the round, anted her to save the life of their buddy Instead the MERT were doing their job and starting care, the Major already checking the casualty’s airway and giving oxygen as the teaan cardiopulmonary resuscitation It ness Back on the front line, it would have been exactly the kind of uys would need A reluctant admiration sparked in Ash

Suddenly, a ht Ash’s attention A third tea a casualty, stretcher-bound like the first, was rounding the bend approximately one hundred metres away Even from that distance there was evidence of heavy blood loss but orried Ashfrom the casualty’s abdoet the soldier onto the heli like that

In an instant, Ash had sprung out froainst the downdraught of the rotors, across the open ground There was definitely a sandstorh time out in the field to be able to sense it before al the litter, he was relieved to find the casualty on his side, delirious but mercifully still alive

‘Set hih to counter their resistance out of loyalty to their friend ‘He’s not going to get on board like that’

Ash watched as, for a split second, understandable desperation to get their buddy to the heli warred with following a senior officer’s instruction It was only when he heard the voice over his shoulder that he realised the Major had followed right behind hi

‘The Colonel’s right, lads I need to check your buddy out first and we’ll go from there’

Pushing briskly through, the Major settled next to the litter and pushed lightly to encourage the soldiers to set it down on the level ground

‘What’s his name?’ she asked