Amputees on the Front Line

Crowland resident Albert Thomson was a career soldier, who, after 18 years of military service, found himself thrown into the civilian way of life after being injured in conflict in March 2003. Albert and his family moved to Deeping St Nicholas in 2005, before moving to Crowland in April 2007.

"Until 2003, I was a fully able, fit and active soldier, who had served in numerous conflicts from the Gulf War in 1990 to Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo," he told us. "But, unfortunately, at the start of the Iraq War in 2003, aged 33, I was hit several times by machine gun fire, resulting in horrific injuries along with the loss of my left leg above the knee."

Albert was hospitalised for 2 months, during which time he contemplated what the future might hold for himself and his family. Realising he was in charge of his own future, he thought of the idea of Action Amps (Amputee Casualty Simulations Ltd) in order to make a living for himself and other amputees.

"I introduced the concept of using amputees to enhance the training packages of our Armed Forces and Emergency Services by creating realistic casualty simulations. The Company was formed primarily to support and enhance the training packages that soldiers must go through prior to deployments to such places as Iraq and Afghanistan."

Members as young as 18 who were born without limbs have also participated in training exercises, where realism is enhanced with the use of Special Effects Make-up. Amputees find themselves being tossed around the battlefield, shot and blown up by the use of Pyrotechnics, giving both realistic and effective training to the military and giving the amputee a sense of achievement. Ultimately, the realism of the training counteracts the element of shock when a person is faced with such traumatic injuries in rea-lifel situations - often meaning the difference between life or death for injured soldiers and other casualities.

Albert went on to say that amputees were featured in the first episode of the Ross Kemp in Afghanistan series on Sky One:

"Action Amps has been contacted by Film and TV companies keen to utilise the unique abilities of amputees, which we are happy to diversify into in order to give our members more opportunities to get involved in a wider range of activities."

Despite having no acting experience himself, Albert has personally been involved in extras work in the media industry for the last four years, securing parts in feature films and dramas. Recently he was involved in Midsomer Murders, which will hopefully be aired at Christmas.

Many of Action Amps' members have been fortunate to participate in such films as Troy, Gladiator, Batman and more recently Wolfman which required elements of stunt work. This is unique in itself because currently, the UK Stunt Register will only allow registration of able-bodied persons, but hopefully with the Media welcoming the use of amputees for an increasingly wider scope of such work, this will change.