Monday 24th March

Things seem to have died down after our first lot of casualties over the weekend. I was carrying out my duties of mine-watch on the Bridge this morning and all was going well. On the horizon a giant white ship with a large dome on the front of it appeared out of nowhere. We could not identify what type of ship it was or whom it belonged to. Suspense started spreading across the Bridge. RFA personnel brought out a huge book of global ships and identified it as a US missile seeker, heartbeats returned back to normal. Later on that afternoon I was involved in receiving a psychiatric patient along with the help from LNN Tasosa which was executed quite well. We bought him down to the ward where a psychiatric nurse attended to him. Poor Port watch had lack of sleep during their night watch due to an Iraqi patient moaning in agony. Two doses of morphine and a batch of sedatives soon got the watch off to sleep!!

Tuesday 25th

0700: Starboard watch started off with the early morning shift and things have been pretty quite for a few hours. One of the Iraqi patients has been taken down to Theatre to undergo an operation. Another patient came onboard today but not due to conflict, he had been flown across from another ship with a leg injury. We have finished our shift now and are handing over to Port watch. We our now off to take part in a bit of physical activity, taken by C/Sgt Dave 'Phys Monster' Sharp, who will more than likely thrash us within an inch of our lives. Port watch's afternoon of rest was interrupted when two Chinook Helicopters carrying nineteen stretcher cases landed on the flight deck.

1830: Starboard watch was called to assist Port watch in transporting the patients from the helicopters down to the ship's hospital. The weather outside was really awful we had to battle through a heavy thunderstorm with high winds and enormous bolts of lighting. We took over the watch at

1900: and have been busy all through the night. We have been helping with numerous tasks from moving patients to different wards all the way down to comforting them with kind words and gestures. Some of the things seen were quite horrific. The sights sounds and smells were really difficult to take in and at some points many of the staff had lumps in their throats, such an emotional evening experienced by all. I would like to finish with a word of caution for Musn Anne Jonnasen. Always check that you have something to lift!!

Wednesday 26th

A quite afternoon on Starboard watch, not a lot happening on the High Dependency Unit (HDU) so I decided to take a trip down to Resuscitation (Resus), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Theatre to see if it was a bit livelier down there. In Resus not a lot was happening apart from Sgt 'Taff' Ingram who was getting a right whopping at Uckers from Musn Paul Donovan. ICU has their hands full as they have a very ill American patient who needs two nurses to watch over him. They took him off his ventilator this morning to see if he can breathe on his own and he seems to be doing well. Theatre was busy as well; they had to perform an amputation on a patient. To watch this was a real experience as it is nothing like what you see in 'Casualty or Holby City.'

Thursday 27th

This morning the patients seemed to be a little livelier. They were sitting up talking and laughing to each other. Resus is quite yet again! ICU are still busy with their American patient, he seems to be coming on extremely well, his eyes are slightly open and he is slightly more aware of what is going on around him. Theatre is getting ready to perform another operation so it's all go down there.

The Captain of the ship came down to HDU this morning to see how the staff and patients are getting on and was pleased with how everyone was coping. We gave the patients a special treat for lunch this afternoon, a few band members and myself went up to the pantry to find a bundle of fresh fruit which we distributed to them. Their little faces beamed with delight as they do not really like our English food. They are not used to a British diet. They do not understand the concept of cereal or milk; they drink black tea and eat biscuits or crackers for breakfast. They cannot eat certain meats like pork because of their religion so the food onboard has to be well planned.

Friday 28th

The patients are once again cheerful and some are even getting out and about to see their friends in the other ward. I went down to ICU earlier this afternoon to see how the American patient was progressing and I could not believe my eyes. His eyes were fully open, he was sat up and he could understand what the nurses and other members of staff were saying to him as he was nodding and shaking his head. He is unable to talk at the moment as his throat is quite swollen from his injuries he sustained and also having an ET tube inserted down it. We all wish him a good and quick recovery. Theatre and Resus are quite, how rare! HDU has been very quite today. It was that quite, Starboard watch sat down to watch Robbie Williams Live at the Albert Hall. After watching Robbie we were informed that nineteen casualties, British, American and Iraqi were being flown onboard, two hours later we were still waiting for them. Maybe they will arrive when Port watch are on to give them something to do.

Saturday 29th

Port watch never received the nineteen casualties that were expected, however four British casualties arrived. I carried out mine-watch duty again this morning but had to do a long and laborious two hours instead of the usual one hour as my relief never turned up! I took another visit to our American patient on ICU this afternoon. He has made a miraculous recovery. He is giving the nurses a lot of comical abuse and is feeding himself, so we can clearly say he will be fighting fit soon. This evening's shift has been quite busy, another helicopter carrying a pregnant mother and her young child came in and they have gone in to Resus so that has given them something to do. The British patients that Port watch brought in are progressing. The American patient from ICU has been moved up to HDU and is now giving the nurses up there abuse. The nurses have now nicknamed him 'The Cheeky Chappie'. Musn Paul Donovan has been promoted in the field to Surgeon Commander. A few Doctors were all gathered around an X - ray of a stomach with a bullet clearly lodged in it and they were pointing and pulling faces at it. Along came Paul 'The Doc' Donovan and said "I think he has been shot." Thank you Paul for your medical expertise! Theatre has had a busy day today with eight operations in total. One of them was to try and save an Iraqi's hand so they have sewn it onto his thigh. Hopefully it will not affect his piano playing too much! The Buglers' have been given the job of incinerating the clinical waste and I have just checked how many bags there are and I have counted around 60 bags so I guess I will be burning the midnight oil tonight.

Sunday 30th

Happy Mother's Day to all our Mums out there.

Today on HDU it has been very quite the patients have had a very long sleep in this afternoon so the staff have sat down to watch a video of the Scotland v Italy rugby match. The American patient was taken up to the upper deck for the first time since he has been here to have a look at our British Fleet and he was very impressed. ICU are very busy again as they now have five patients to look after. Theatre performed only one operation today or so they say but when I went down there earlier on to check if they were doing anything they were all sat round a table drinking coffee and gossiping.

1630: the three British patients and the American patient were flown home to receive further treatment from their respective countries. We wish them all the best for a speedy recovery. No sooner had we said our farewells to the patients and were heading back down to the hospital we were called back on to the flight deck to receive another casualty. This time it was a four year old boy who had been involved in a Road Traffic Accident, he was taken straight into ICU where he is currently undergoing treatment.

Matt Abbott