Chambermaid in clean break

Sharon swops hotel work for action with TA

SHARON McCormack swopped making beds and cleaning bathrooms for protecting soldiers in Southern Iraq.

The 32-year-old Mossley mother gave up her job as chambermaid at Manchester’s Britannia Hotel when she joined the Territorial Army in 2003.

Sharon, now Bombardier McCormack, has just returned home from a two-week infantry training exercise with her regiment in Cyprus.

She said: “We’ve done all kinds of things in Cyprus — lessons in section attacks, flying in helicopters. It’s the first time I’ve been in a helicopter. We were dropped off and then had to march to the exercise area.”

In 2004, Sharon was deployed to Shaibah in southern Iraq where she was required to act as look-out when the troops were on patrol.

Since 2003, more than 1,500 TA soldiers from the North-West have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

More information about the TA in the North-West can be found at www.armyjobs.mod.uk/northwest or www.nwrfca.org.uk