War Rages On

• Elliot Parker, Grade 7, Peter Moyes Anglican Community School
• Short Story
• 2013

Excellence Award in the 'Dream Big 2013' competition

My name is Michael J. Parkers; I am a Flight Lieutenant for the Royal Australian Air Force. I fly a HH-60M Medevac Helicopter which is used to rescue downed soldiers at war.

I sit in my chair, on my computer trying to contact my family all the way in Australia, the internet is slow, but that won’t stop me trying. Any time now, the call will come in and we will be scrambled into battle. I wait for what seems like hours, until the radio beeps, a transmission comes in saying that a soldier has stepped over a mine. We are instantly scrambled to our copters, I start running out of the door, I put on my helmet and make a dash to my helicopter. I jump in and turn the engines on, the rotors whirl and my teammates jump in. We get permission for take-off, so we start our adventure.

After 20 minutes, we see purple smoke on the ground below, it is a flare. We safely land behind the vehicles, where it is clear of mines. Someone runs over giving us a SITREP, telling us what has happened and what they think the soldier will need back at the military hospital. Two soldiers rush in carrying the soldier, we place him on a stretcher and the medic sterilises his wounds for the trip. We take off and go back to base with the soldier; 10 minutes have now passed, 30 minutes left until the golden hour is not with us, meaning he might die.

We land at the base, with an ambulance waiting for us; we rush him out of the helicopter and into the back of the ambulance. After the ambulance has gone away and the helicopter is prepped for the next call we go back into the base. We do the same routine every day, get up, wait for a bit, get scrambled and then come back to base with a soldier.

Every day, I wish I was with my family, I’m so lonely. The thought of going home makes me cry, because I know that it will be a long time since I can ever go back. I just hope that one day, this war will end and we can all get back to our normal lives. This is the story of Flight Lieutenant Michael J. Parkers, this is my story.