Former regimental sergeant major Kris Muirhead served for 23 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
During that time he encountered many “scary” situations and himself suffered injuries.
But now the 41-year-old has left the army life behind to take on a new role within the oil and gas sector joining TAC Healthcare as its offshore resourcing manager.
Dad-of-five Mr Muirhead joined the army in April 1999 as a combat medical technician and went on to work in various countries including America, Belize, Canada, Djbuti, Germany and Norway.
Operation tours saw him serve in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Northern Ireland.
Lost colleagues
Reflecting on his time on duty he said “It’s been pretty eventful.
“I’ve taken on many roles, travelled the world and experienced things I never thought I would.
“I’ve engaged with people from different religions backgrounds and cultures and had an excellent career doing so.
“In Afghan I saw a lot of traumatic injuries out there.
“We lost colleagues and soldiers we were attached to.
“We were involved in firefights and when we did Iraq and Afghan there was a few scary moments with IEDS (improvised explosive devices) going off.
“We lost colleagues and soldiers we were attached to.”
“As a patrol/company medic, you were the first line of treatment providing emergency medical care to anyone who required it.
“This could range from injuries sustained from IED’s or gunfire to heat exhaustion or accidents.
“It was my job to stabilise the casualty as much as we could, keeping them alive and getting them evacuated as soon as possible.
“There were scary times but your brothers and sisters in arms get you through it.”
Entering civilian life
Mr Muirhead, who is trained in the procedures and principles of advanced trauma life support and tropical medicine, himself suffered injuries including perforated ear drums from the IEDS.
He had always shown an interest in medicine since a young boy but never imagined he’d make a career out of it.
Now 23 years later he’s back to civilian life and started a new career path with Dyce based TAC.
He will be responsible for delivering the company’s remote healthcare offering and supporting TAC’s work with the energy industry overseeing the management of the offshore medics.
He said: “I didn’t want a stop gap job. I wanted to keep within the medical realm and progress so I started looking for employment.
“I was a bit scared like everybody who has been in the army for that long and they leave.
“But the transition for me has been not too bad because I feel like TAC itself is pretty similar to the army for me in regards to it being a professional organisation and committed to providing excellence which is something we strive for in the army.
“The facilities are outstanding and the sky is the limit for TAC at this point in time.
“It’s one of the best facilities I’ve ever seen.
“For me it’s not been a hard transition because it’s got everything that the army had it’s just a different environment.
“And you are not getting shot at.”
Experience to benefit TAC
TAC Healthcare Group occupational health director Ronan Jennings said: “Over a six-month period we have seen our team of medics’ quadruple in size.
“Kris’ experience managing over 400 army medical personnel, together with his vision, structure and organisational skills will assist in delivering the quality of service our clients need and expect.”