Young girls from across Kirklees are thinking of joining the army after they were given a glimpse of life behind the scenes.
The 12 to 16-year-olds from Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Batley travelled to a military field hospital in Strensall, York.
The visit was arranged by Huddersfield Pakistani Community Alliance and the Indian Muslim Welfare Society to give them an insight into careers in medicine with the Army.
After some basic first aid training including resuscitation techniques at the 34 Field Hospital, they took part in a stretcher race in which they had to put their newly-acquired skills into practice.
Aqsa Khan, 16, from Huddersfield, said: “I have learned about the medical side and different injuries.
“I have had basic training but this is more advanced. We have learned more about the equipment the army use and then I went to look at all the equipment they would ship out with them overseas – and it is a lot.”
Before the visit eight girls in the group of 24 were seriously considering medicine as a career but as the army medics shared their knowledge and experience they found it fascinating and now others are looking at their career options.
“I am not good at science and I want a career in business,” said Saira Munir, 16, also from Huddersfield.
“However, learning about everything that goes on here, how they treat the patients and how they rescue them is interesting. It is not something that you learn by watching the news. You have to see it and hear it from people that actually do it themselves – it was good coming here.”
Aaisha Khan, 14, from Dewsbury, said: “More than anything I really enjoyed the fact that we were able to see a different part of the army instead of the stereotypical things we see on the news.
“I really liked hearing about all the career opportunities that the army can offer, the facilities and what the benefits are, instead of the things people usually mention such as fighting and going to war.”
34 Field Hospital was the last field hospital to deploy to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan in 2013. A year ago, it was in Sierra Leone to run an Ebola Treatment Centre in Kerrytown.
Lt Col Mark Hunter, from 4th Infantry Brigade Community Engagement team, said: “We are reaching out to diverse communities throughout the region to raise awareness of what the army does both in this country and abroad.
“The army has many careers of which medicine is one. We are not just about combat, we undertake humanitarian work and training throughout the world. 34 Field Hospital is a good example of that, having served on different styles of operation both in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.”
Shamim Ali, a project co-ordinator with the Indian Muslim Welfare Centre at the Al-Hikmah Centre in Batley, said: “The girls have had a brilliant insight into army life. Looking at the medical side has shown them that this is a career option.
“I think they loved the CPR and anything that was hands on and most of it has been. They loved looking at the ambulance and the kit.”
