A former student at the Ashtead City of London Freemans School has completed preparations for a September tour to Afghanistan as a Medical Army Officer.

Captain Sarah Crabb, 27, from Cobham who serves with Germany based 1 Medical Regiment, has finished an arduous series of exercises designed to prepare her to treat injured soldiers during the tour.

The exercises included using night vision goggles to treat soldiers in pitch black conditions and working with a team of trained professional amputee actors from UK agency Amputees in Action to provide a realistic training experience.

Amputees in Action use their personal trauma experiences and realistic make-up and prosthetics to simulate the kind of injuries that might happen on tour.

They remain in character throughout a scenario to ensure the intensity of the training experience helping improve performance in the treatment of injuries in the field and allowing techniques to become instinctive.

Sarah said: "Amputees in Action are important to make experience realistic.

"You need to have had the shock here, so if it happens on tour you will know what to expect and just go into your drills."

Sarah, a fully qualified doctor who commissioned as an officer in 2005, will provide battle treatment and primary health care to soldiers in Afghanistan and will also help train Afghan National Army medics.

She said: "I am really looking forward to going to Afghanistan, it will be an alternative challenge, a life experience which will be so useful - to stretch my boundaries."

Captain Nick Davies, Intelligence Officer for UK Joint Force Medical Group, said: "The members of the Regiment are fully prepared and are looking forward to performing their duties in theatre. Their battle worthiness has been comprehensively tested including physical conditioning, leadership, soldiering skills, specialist skills and values and standards."

Sarah will spend the weeks leading up to her deployment refining and practising essential drills and skills.