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From our local newspaper today.....
Norfolk woman's part in war on terror
A Hellesdon woman has been given the responsibility of running the UK's fifth busiest airfield - in the middle of war-torn Afghanistan.
Squadron Leader Michelle Betts, 40, a former Hellesdon High School pupil, is now senior RAF operations officer at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province.
Sqn Ldr Betts, who joined the RAF in 1998 and has also served time in Iraq in 2004, has been given the job of managing the flow of aircraft movements into and out of the airfield, allocating parking space and ensuring aircraft get the fuel they need.
In July the officer, who must also ensure all airfield operations are safe, helped manage 6,000 flights in just one month - making it almost as busy as Stansted.
She was recently in Kabul when it was hit by a rocket attack.
“There was a rocket attack, but luckily quite a distance from where we were staying,” said Sqn Ldr Betts, who is set to marry her fiancé Robin, who is also in the RAF, in January.
“I was used to hearing the alarms and the sounds of rockets from my experiences in Basra [in Iraq] so I was not too concerned.”
While in Kabul, she also experienced what was the high point of her tour; seeing children flying kites outside the airfield, which reminded her of the blockbuster book, The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini.
“I had read the book the Kite Runner, which left a lasting impression of Afghanistan, and then to actually see the children playing and flying kits on the roofs was amazing,” she said.
Sqn Ldr Betts, who is normally based at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, also plays a part in the arrangement of the repatriation ceremonies for fallen soldiers; ensuring that the aircraft aspects of the ceremony go as planned.
She also makes sure that the airfield is quiet during the ceremony as a mark of respect.
“The hardest one was on my 40th birthday when the soldier who had died had not even reached his 20th birthday,” she said.
The officer said she was looking forward to seeing her parents, David and Patricia, who still live in the Hellesdon area, when she returns from duty.
“It has been rewarding, both professionally and personally - working alongside our sister services but also the USMC (US Marine Corps), and receiving lots of parcels from home - especially from family and friends from Norwich and Wales”.
Lizx
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