Pete McCarthy served 12 years in the RAF, including tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now an Isleworth paramedic. He reads at today's Armistice Day service.

Pete McCarthy spent 12 years in the Royal Air Force, with several deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now a paramedic at Isleworth Ambulance Station. Today, 11 November, he is reading the Exhortation and the Kohima Epitaph at London Ambulance Service’s Armistice Day service.

“It’s the best job I’ve ever done,” he says of the ambulance work. “I’ve never looked back. It’s been brilliant.

“People call us when they are having the worst day of their life. It’s such a privilege being there to help that person get to a position where it’s not the worst day of their life.”

From the RAF to Isleworth

Pete comes from a military family and always knew he wanted a career in the RAF, the service says. That career took him to some of the world’s most dangerous places, where he came under enemy fire.

He has swapped one uniform for another, and says the skills carried across: staying calm under pressure, assessing risk, seeing the bigger picture and working as part of a team. What he did not expect, according to the service, was how much he would love the new job.

His deployments also gave him an understanding of different cultures, customs and faiths, which he draws on when caring for patients from London’s communities. On one call, he was helping an Iraqi mother give birth. Her family were at first worried about a male clinician caring for her, but Pete reassured them so well that they asked him to stay, even after a female ambulance crew arrived.

Reading at the Armistice Day service

Remembrance matters to him as a veteran. He lost friends and colleagues during his military career, and sees Armistice Day as a chance to remember both the people he knew and everyone who has died serving the country.

“It’s a time when we can come together as a service community and remember them,” he says. “And remember not just people from World War One and World War Two, but all those who have lost their lives in service of our country.”

The Exhortation and the Kohima Epitaph are the traditional readings for honouring those who died in conflict. “It’s always a little bit emotional when you read it,” he says. “It shakes you up a little bit.”

Still in the Armed Forces family

Pete’s wife still serves in the RAF, and he is a Senior Warrant Officer with Middlesex Wing Air Cadets. Later this month he will be parade warrant officer at the Lord Mayor’s Show, helping to organise around 400 cadets.

At work he is active in London Ambulance Service’s Armed Forces Network, which brings together staff who have served, reservists, cadet force volunteers and people with family links to the Armed Forces.

The service is marking its colleagues who served in the Armed Forces this week, and points people who want to support the wider ambulance community to the London Ambulance Charity. The full release is on the London Ambulance Service newsroom.