| Accession Number | PR00183 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Private Record |
| Record type | Collection |
| Measurement | Extent: .5 cm; Wallet/s: 1 |
| Object type | Card |
| Maker |
Australian Defence Force |
| Place made | Iraq |
| Date made | 1991 |
| Access | Open |
| Related File This file can be copied or viewed via the Memorial’s Reading Room. | AWM371 92/0485 |
| Conflict |
Gulf War, 1990-1991 |
Childs, Barry (Lieutenant, b.1957)
Description
Collection relating to the Operation Habitat service of 186542 Lieutenant Barry Childs, Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps, Iraq, 1991.
Wallet 1 of 1 - Consists of Child's photographic identity card, issued in May 1991, for his deployment to Iraq on Operation Habitat.
History / Summary
Barry Childs was a 34-year-old lieutenant in the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps when he deployed to Iraq on Operation Habitat in 1991 in the wake of the Gulf War.
Childs' role in Iraq was as part of a roving treatment team. Aided by a Kurdish interpreter, and consisting of a medical officer, Childs and three medics, each day the team would tour villages and roadside camps dispensing what care they could. Prior to each trip, it was Childs' responsibility to ensure the team had adequate stores to meet the demands of the long day ahead.
Prior to joining the Australian Army, Childs had spent ten years as a radio technician in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He resigned from the RAAF to train as a nurse at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane and, following 15 month's work in intensive and coronary care units, he joined the army and was commissioned into the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps on 20 January 1990. Childs' was posted to the 2nd Field Ambulance in Townsville when he deployed on Operation Habitat.