Mum and son join forces

IT WAS touch-and-go as to whether Iraqi baby Mareyam Ailan would survive after suffering severe burns in a house fire. Following the blaze in March this year, she was initially taken to an Army field hospital.

But doctors soon realised that the six-month-old tot would not survive if she wasn't flown to this country.

While Mareyam's injuries were not caused by the war and it is not usual MoD practice to evacuate civilians, it was decided that this was a special case.

So, both the baby and her parents were flown from Basra to Liverpool, via Cyprus, so she could receive the crucial treatment she needed.

Beside the family during the journey was Southampton's Valerie Mathieson who, by coincidence, was also on the same flight back to Iraq.

It's an experience that deeply moved her.

"I sat with the parents and the baby for two hours.

"To see the love those parents had for that child and see how grateful they were to the people of this country for saving their child's life was incredible," she said.

"Often you don't get to hear what happened to them afterwards.

"So to see that baby go back home, for me, completed the story."

Valerie and her son, Colin Mathieson, have both been in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force for nearly two decades.

The armed forces' only mother and son double act both served in the first Iraq War.

They were called up again at the beginning of this year, reporting to RAF Lyneham with no idea of where they would be posted.

During the 1991 conflict, Colin, 36, served in Dhahran, while British Airways manager Valerie was sent to Riyadh.

Each worried about the other and, on their return, had several lively conversations about which place had been hit by more Iraqi Scud missiles - eventually agreeing on a tally of 27 each.

This time, they were both based at RAF Akrotiri Air Base, on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus for six months.

They arrived on March 3.

Two days later, the first of 1,700 casualties to pass through their care touched down.

Colin and Valerie, 55, were among 70 members of 4626 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron based on Cyprus, of which 30 were ground crew.

Colin decided which casualties were transferred straight onto converted commercial Boeing 757s to be flown straight back to Britain - and which ones first required treatment at Akrotiri hospital.

Valerie was a medic in one of the four teams which flew back and forth between Basra, Kuwait, RAF Brize Norton and civilian airports around Britain, distributing patients to the hospitals best able to care for them.

"I really do feel that every single bit of training I've had in the last 18 years was used to the full," said Valerie.

"There were times when you felt it was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster.

"But we all looked after each other and the team support was incredible.

"The squadron worked incredibly well and we didn't lose anyone during the flights.

"We were working flat-out, sometimes doing two flights a day.

"I'm sure there were people who wondered if auxiliaries would be able to do the job to the same standard as the regulars - and I think that's now been properly proved.

"We had a good mixture of experience, as well as those who hadn't been there before.

"I think some people who hadn't been before didn't realise how hard it could be.

"I know I was apprehensive about how I would cope with critical patients because I'm a nurse, not a medic, but I found that the training had given me everything I needed to cope with the demands of the job.

"You learn a lot about yourself as a person. You certainly discover your strengths and your weaknesses. I know I can work well under pressure and have stamina and compassion.

"Conditions at Basra were very basic, though they have improved a lot now."

Valerie says her employers BA have been superb, not only in the way they've supported her while she was away with letters and text messages, but also with helping her integrate back into her civilian role.

Her mind still strays back to Basra, and the British troops continuing to work out there.

"To go back to a desk job is very strange after the pressures of the last weeks."

For Colin, who was based at RAF Akrotiri Air Base for six months, it has proved "weird" returning to his civilian job as a publishing manager.

"The first six weeks were absolutely manic, with up to four flights a day. We were all doing 15-hour days. It was quite a basic place.

"We achieved a huge amount out there in terms of getting people home and giving them the treatment they needed.

"It was complicated doing all this on a very difficult airfield, normally at 4am in the morning, when you had 20-odd patients all on stretchers."