'It was him or me. I chose me': Extraordinary story of woman medic who became the first British female to kill a fighter in Taliban ambush

A woman medic has become the first female front-line British soldier known to have killed an enemy fighter in combat.

Chantelle Taylor has described the terrifying moment when – as a sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps – she had to choose whether to shoot a Taliban gunman or be  shot herself.

She says: ‘Faced with the choice of him or me, I chose me.’

It was the first time the 32-year-old medic, who was sent to the war zone to save lives, had fired her standard issue SA80 assault rifle at another person.

Female soldiers in the British Army are officially not allowed to fight on the front line in battle and are banned from serving in infantry units whose job is to ‘close with and kill’ the enemy.

The group is listening intently. They all know the importance of what is being said, if they are to stand any chance of surviving a blast in Helmand province. It is early 2008 and I have been selected to oversee haemorrhage-control training for 16 Air Assault Brigade before its deployment to southern Afghanistan. This means making sure that guys on the ground know how to stop bleeding.     More