What follows is sketchy, but the next memory McConaghy has is waking up from a 40-hour coma in a hospital bed in Basingstoke. I had learnt pretty well by now you get far more respect for not trying to highlight yourself as being ‘special’ in any way: as a chick doing such a manly job, and in shouting about it, you single your own self out in a sexist way,” she explained.

Let's celebrate resilience and strength, acknowledging that triumph over adversity is a journey we can all embrace.While deployed, Liz served on the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) – a group of service personnel who saved countless lives in Helmand Province throughout the conflict in Afghanistan. I travelled to Morocco five times and Jordan twice for Iraq and Afghanistan training for living and working in hot, dusty climates, as well as to California four times for a couple of weeks at a time. There is so much more to the RAF and being a crewman than flying, it’s everything that goes inside or underneath the aircraft that I’m in charge of; you certainly don’t join the military to sit in a safe office. Suddenly people were getting in touch to ask for support, and I was doing what I have always wanted to do – helping people.

Yet, here I am, standing strong, having navigated the Veterans' Mental Health care system, confronted my demons, and sought healing.Aged just 21, she was the youngest aircrew member to deploy to Iraq and was also the only female ‘crewman’ on the Chinook wing for four years. Remember, we're all on this journey together, and a supportive community can make all the difference. Liz also takes audiences on her emotional journey of overcoming adversity and speaks about finding hope in the darkest of times, revealing the valuable tools she used to build a path to a new life. Beyond the personal journey, the book also offers a fascinating insight into the world of military aviation. A couple of my mates knew that I was suffering a little bit and they say, ‘how are you Liz,’ and I [was] like ‘ohh yeah living the dream’ and if they asked a second time, it was sometimes enough to crack the egg shell.

She was the youngest aircrew to deploy to Iraq aged just 21 and also the only female crewman on the Chinook wing for 4 years, so her story is completely unique.On one of the days, I went up to Police Barracks for an interview, I pulled my little car into the layby to get past and a Chinook went thudding over the top. She was also on the last 1310 Flight deployment there as the armed forces withdrew 10 years later, handing it back to the Afghan National Army.