Iraq duty’s lessons for home

Dean Crump catches up with workmates at Mechanics Bay. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Dean Crump added a tattoo to the inside of his right wrist before he left for Iraq: Blood Group O+.

The muscular 53-year-old paramedic wields a menacing look: fully tattooed arms, a bald head and a handlebar moustache. A carving of a traditional Maori weapon hangs around his neck on a tight cord - a gift from his father, "Good Keen Man" Barry Crump.

He is back after a five-month contract in Iraq, working as a paramedic - something he can't say much about. He can't say who he's treating in Iraq. He can't say where he spends his time, how he gets around, or who calls the shots.

"It sounds like I'm being a spook or a secret squirrel," he says. "I've got to protect my employer and what we do and protect the people I work with and myself."

But he can say this: "I've learned to treat injuries a lot quicker."

He's dealing with new types of problems - everything from venomous spider bites to multiple injuries - and he's going to bring that knowledge back next year.

That kind of experience is invaluable to Rea Wikaira, chief executive officer of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, which runs the Westpac helicopter rescue service.

"Dean is on a year's leave without pay," Mr Wikaira says, "and he comes back and gives us seminars on the paramedic work that we can learn from. Obviously with things like bullet and shrapnel and bomb wounds, those are the sorts of things that we're not exposed to everyday."

He likens Mr Crump to doctors who came to New Zealand from a conflict-ridden South Africa.

"We learned a lot from them because they'd been treating 80 patients a day."

Mr Crump shocked his employer when he first made his proposal.

"I've been a paramedic in New Zealand for 18 years," he says. "I've basically done everything that there is to do as a paramedic here and I was becoming bored."

He also wanted to see the situation in Iraq for himself.

"I guess I felt like a lot of New Zealanders, that perhaps America shouldn't have been involved," he says. "And I certainly went there with that expectation. I've changed 100 per cent."

His burgundy shirt signifies that turnaround. It reads, Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Right to Bear Arms. But he is not so swept up in the conflict that he has forgotten his roots.

"I'm going to come back to my iwi," he says. "Westpac is my family. These are my people."

* May is Westpac Rescue Helicopter Awareness Month. To make a donation, visit any Westpac branch, call 09004CHOPPER (0900 42467737) to donate $20, text 8833 to donate $3 or visit the Westpac website.