Warning – This article contains references to military service and armed conflict. We understand that these topics may evoke strong emotions or memories, and encourage readers to proceed with care.
“Remembrance is probably one of the only times during the year that most veterans let go of their stoicism and open the box. I know I need a quiet moment during that week to reflect”, says Captain Jon Earp, a Gama Aviation pilot working with Wales Air Ambulance.
Jon, who was born in Holland but raised in Norfolk, served with the army for twenty-three years before leaving in 2012 to start a role with the lifesaving service. He is now one of its longest-serving pilots.
The aviation seed was sown at school when he was an RAF cadet. Halfway through his A-levels, he decided to leave school and signed up to the Royal Engineers.
He was one of the youngest in his regiment and marked his 18th birthday during training. Jon spent seven years living in Yorkshire, Essex, and Cambridgeshire, as well as several tours with the bomb disposal unit in Kurdistan, the Falkland Islands and Northern Ireland at the height of ‘the troubles’.
His last stint in Belfast would change the trajectory of his life. He said: “After a particularly unpleasant day, I found myself in the back of a helicopter.
“I looked across to a guy sitting in front of me, the pilot, and noticed he had the same number of stripes as I did. At that moment, I realised if he could fly, why can’t I?”
Once Jon had recovered, he applied for the army pilot’s course. He had a few months left in Northern Ireland, so he started studying for his entrance exams.
Jon was successful and signed up for a two-year course which would result in him qualifying on the Lynx aircraft, a light battlefield helicopter which takes soldiers to the frontline.
He said: “My military air ambulance colleagues will have done the same pilot’s course as me, as it’s a tri-Service course. It’s just that when I finished the actual basic flying bit, I had to learn tactical flying for conflict zones.
“It’s quite challenging and actually that’s the point where most people fail.”
Once qualified, Jon was posted to his first line Squadron and moved internally within his Regiment.
He said: “I was posted to an anti-tank Squadron, so we had missiles on the side of the helicopters. I’d been the guy on the ground waiting for the helicopter to come and pick me up. But I’d always wanted to be the guy in the air picking up the guys on the ground, so this took me full circle.”
Then came the news Jon was not expecting to hear. Whilst based in Suffolk and doing his dream job, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He said: “I was a year into my flying career with the frontline squadron, and the guys were getting ready to go to Kosovo. All I wanted to do was go where the action was.
“That year was the hardest. I spent the next 12 months having surgery followed by chemotherapy. I would be sitting having treatment at Ipswich Hospital, which sits in the flight line of the Wattisham Air Base.
“Every day, I would watch the helicopters fly past and then return to base.”
Following treatment, Jon was allowed to return to flying on a limited basis. Due to army policy, he had to be five years in remission before being eligible for Command.
By 2003, the second Gulf War was just getting started, and Jon was deemed ‘fit to fly’.
He added: “In total, I did five tours in Iraq, three tours in Afghanistan and tours in Bosnia, Norway, Central America, America and Canada.”
Jon moved from Suffolk to Yorkshire with frontline Army Squadrons. During this period, he also met his wife, Louise, whilst working at the Jersey Air Show. She was originally from mid-Wales, so the couple started talking about moving back to the area.
By 2013, Jon had exited the army and had signed up for Wales Air Ambulance, operating out of Caernarfon Airport.
The evolution of Wales Air Ambulance into a service delivering advanced critical care owes much to the Armed Forces and the pioneering medical care developed and delivered on the front line. Many veterans and current military personnel are employed within the service.
Jon said: “I’ve undertaken some interesting flying in my military past, dropping troops onto a rooftop in the middle of a city somewhere hot and dusty.
“The difference for me with the military is when you’re going away, you’re training with the people you’re going away with.
“Your families have a support mechanism behind them back in the UK, and they’re at the end of the phone. It’s a process which you get used to.
“Due to the nature of the beast, you are also prepared that at some point you will lose one of your colleagues. You hope it won’t happen, but if it does, it’s not something you weren’t expecting.”
However, he says his reaction to his first job with Wales Air Ambulance took him by surprise. A family were on their way to school when the driver hit an ice patch and the vehicle landed upside down in a ditch. The children were strapped in the back, and the mother was in the driver’s seat.
Jon said: “When you are in the armed forces and you are hit by those moments, you are prepared for it.
“But I realised that morning, that woman was just taking her children to school, a normal day when suddenly, she was thrown into the darkest place, with no warning, no training, no preparation.
“Thankfully, everyone was fine. Working with the fire brigade and police, we got them out safely.”
He added: “I realised from day one the difference that we as a team had made, and it was every bit as fulfilling as landing on a rooftop in Basra or Khandahar.
“Yes, it’s quite different to the military job, but all that military training feeds into this role. All the experiences of flying low, flying in bad weather, and having to make quick but correct decisions.
“Keeping our patients and the crew safe is the priority.”
Jon says one of the big issues faced by those who leave service life is the loss of identity or purpose. He feels extremely fortunate to work within a ‘small, autonomous unit.’
He said: “It’s taken me ten years to get used to working four days on and four days off. My life before was months of tours, where you eat, sleep and work together.
“I have more of a work-life balance now, and the camaraderie is great.”
During his time living in North Wales, Jon has also helped develop an annual endurance motorsport event at Anglesey Circuit called the Race of Remembrance.
Hundreds of people travel from all over the UK, with injured service members among the drivers.
He said: “Over the years, it’s grown and grown and has become more and more poignant.”
Jon will once again act as the event Sergeant Major. He added: “I get to put on my medals and be part of the Remembrance parade. It’s a real honour.
“It’s really moving on the Sunday, when the crowd becomes still, the silence is breathtaking. Then, as the service ends, there is a real flip of emotion, as the drivers get in their cars and rev their engines.
“It’s such a special event and pays tribute to those who have lost their lives in service or have returned forever changed. It offers us all the opportunity to remember them in our own, quiet way.”
Gama Aviation are contracted to deliver the aviation service on behalf of the Wales Air Ambulance Charity. They have been awarded the Armed Forces Covenant Silver Award.
