THE shortage of equipment and personnel in the field hospital litter David Wood's story of his experiences in Iraq.

David was issued with combat body armour on arrival in Kuwait but he had to give it up to a soldier who was going to fight in the front line.

The reason David was called up was because the territorial army could not put together a field hospital with their personnel so had to turn to the naval reservists.

"It wasn't just that there wasn't enough personnel but also they weren't trained to do what they were being asked to do," David adds.

"Ambulance men going to collect injured soldiers in the field had to borrow guns to take with them and they only had a limited number of rounds they could use."

"We didn't have desert boots so there were a lot of foot problems from the heat."

David's wife Lisa said: "From my perspective I felt like I got no support from the government. I was only allowed to send 2kgs of post in the free postal service but the American wives were allowed to send 36kgs for free."

David was sent to the front line and the phone calls home to Lisa stopped.

"For me that was the worst bit," adds Lisa. "I didn't know when I would speak to David again."

Despite the problems David faced it's clear he was glad to help.

"I feel we did do a good job in Iraq. Two children were born in the field hospital and we helped save many British and Iraqi lives.

"The Iraqi's were genuinely pleased that we had gone to Iraq."