Bellevue woman returns from war
While Cpl. Forcier is a medical technician, as military personnel in a combat zone she packs a 9-mm pistol and sometimes carries the C7 assault rifle, used by Canadian troupes on the front lines.
By Rod Andrews
Natalie Forcier has been having a long visit with her family in St. Isidore de Bellevue.
Coming back home in early September has been a well-deserved break from the last place she worked at, Kandahar Airfield, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base in Afghanistan.
The 24-year-old is a medical technician and corporal in the Canadian Air Force. Her unit is the 23 Canadian Forces Health Service Centre Winnipeg and has been posted with the 17 Wing since 2004.
Last February, Cpl. Forcier arrived in Afghanistan to work a rotation in a medical complex on the sprawling base, that is the heart of a major theatre of war.
Cpl. Forcier, who had her early training in Borden, Ontario and Chilliwack, BC, said she had two “different jobs” during her tour of duty.
One of her duties was working in a primary care clinic that was open 24 hours a day, serving the thousands of troops from NATO countries that are involved with the military action in the country.
“She worked with medics from the Untied States, Britain, Holland, Denmark and other countries.
“At the clinic were care providers, doing work similar to a nurse’s aide, doing stitching, IVs, giving meds and the like”.
The tent clinic is located next to an emergency field hospital where Cpl. Forcier also was assigned as a flight line medic.
“We would work with the casualties coming into the base by air. We would only work on patients for the 300 metres when they arrived on the flight line and were being transported to the hospital.
“Those coming in included those who had been seriously wounded, to those near death to people who could walk off the plane themselves”.
Other than being bombarded by rockets every day on the base, Cpl. Forcier said she had little contact with the military action taking place in the field.
Most of the time, non-combat personnel working in the camp, which is ringed by barbed/razor wire, stay on base for protection and safety.
Cpl. Forcier had the opportunity to travel “outside the wire” for extended periods on two separate occasions.
“I was outside the wire for two-and-half weeks giving care to the Afghan people who were doing a road-building project. There were up to 400 people building roads and they aged from 12 to 90. I provided basic medical care (and) some medication like Tylenol”. Another time she went out with a provincial reconstruction team (PRT), in this case, a special unit of the Afghan police that provides security and helps with reconstruction.
There she helped train some of the PRT members to deal with major injuries they may encounter.
“In the military, everyone does first-aid every year and they learn by hands-on experience and teach what they learn to others.
“In the military, it is see one (procedure), do one and teach one,” she pointed out.
With what she saw around her, Cpl. Forcier wasn’t scared off by the tragic situations, but rather, it stiffened her resolve to learn even more, even becoming a military doctor as there are many programs available to her as a Canadian Armed Forces member.
“I was not scared. There were casualties, but you get used to it. When you’re not at work you acted pretty well next to normal”.
She said the Canadian military needs medical personnel, pointing out that the base especially needs medical laboratory technicians when she found out that this reporter had been certified as a med lab tech in the recent past.
Most people do not think of becoming a medical technician when they think of the armed forces, but Cpl. Forcier did and said she hopes it is a start toward something bigger and better.
Cpl. Forcier is on leave until October 20 and will return to work in Winnipeg, MB.
She is going to apply for another rotation to Afghanistan, but does not expect to go until later 2009.
“I would love to go back,” she said, pointing out that it was not only a great learning experience for her as a medic, but for the fun the non-combat personnel had at the base outside of Kanawha.
Where else can you see the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup; hear top Canadian and world musicians; play field hockey with NHL players and have your boss, the top general in the country and the head of the Canadian Armed Forces, autograph a hockey jersey on your back while you’re in a t-shirt and blue jeans and wearing a Browning 9 mm pistol, or purchase a berka to bring home for just $20?
There are the down sides – chances of getting blown up by a IUD, dust storms, temperatures close to 50 degrees and only two beer a month – and only when you’re nowhere near going on duty.
Cpl. Forcier said most of the time she relaxed inside the wire at old and new Canada House, which included the field hockey rink and participated in sports, which she likes to do.
She would hang around the gym and recreational area, which had a huge television screen to watch movies.
Floor hockey was a favourite sport; learning Salsa dancing was another possibility.
Then there were all the conveniences of a shopping mall, a boardwalk around the rink that included a Burger King, Tim Horton’s and ice cream shops, to add a bit of a chill to the body.
“When I first got there, it was 30 degrees during the day and fell to five degrees at night. This summer it was over 50 degrees. On a night shift, it was still 40 degrees in the morning”.
Entertainment also included barbecues with force members from other countries, military shows and the Internet.
Cpl. Forcier has a laptop computer with her to keep in contact with her family in Bellevue on a regular basis.
She did get letters and packages from home, but maybe not as much as she could have because of the Internet.
Ida Forcier confessed that her daughter, “Combat Barbie”, nick-named so because of her blond hair, was treated to the finest of candies, including gum, marshmallow balls and other treats the family sent.
“The locals would do the laundry and it would take two to three days to get it back. We lost bras, panties and t-shirts on a regular basis”.
Mom admitted she was worried at the beginning of the mission and towards the end and is glad her daughter is home.
“It was fun, it was a challenge, it was scary, it was rewarding, but I would go back,” she told her mother.
One thing she remembers vividly is attending the ramp ceremonies, the send-off ceremonies of those who were killed in the conflict.
While she was there, she saw on television the military personnel lined-up as the caskets of Canadians were loaded on the transport aircraft bound for Germany and home.
On the ground, Cpl. Forcier said she attended numerous ramp ceremonies, not only for Canadians, but for the personnel of other countries who died in combat.
Some of her other observations about being in the country include how surprised she was that the local male population had not seen a blond woman before and that the dust storms, which were more like blizzards, would come out of nowhere and darkened the sky, leaving a fine dust behind.
There is an old saying “an army moves on its stomach”.
Sitting in Bellevue drinking milk, she said she missed real milk.
“The milk over there is prepared from powdered milk. You can leave it out for a week in the sun” she said, adding she was sure it would not go bad.
She liked the chili the best and got to sample food from other countries at the camp.
There is a little write-up and a photo of Cpl. Forcier on the Canadian Air Force website http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom that was written-up about her before she was deployed to Afghanistan.
There is a link on Cpl. Forcier that will give people more information about what a Canadian Forces medical technician is and does and the potential as a future career.
