Medic on life with British reconnaissance troops in Afghanistan

A young medic from West Yorkshire is working with the 12th Mechanized Brigade Reconnaissance Force, an elite unit that operates in some of the most dangerous areas of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

British Army medic Lance Corporal Natalie Aspinall. Picture: Sergeant Andy Reddy, Crown Copyright/MOD 2012

Lance Corporal Natalie Aspinall, from Liversedge, is serving with the 2nd Troop of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) as a combat medical technician. Even though she is only 22, LCpl Aspinall has been at the forefront of some of the most challenging and dangerous operations conducted this summer.

The BRF’s role is to gather information from across Helmand on potential insurgent activity, as well as the public mood, local requirements and progress being made in the province’s communities, and report back to the brigade command.

Depending on the analysis of the information, the brigadier might then use the BRF to strike quickly and deftly at an insurgent thorn in the side of an Afghan community.

Continues at: mod.uk – Medic on life with British reconnaissance troops in Afghanistan