Royal Navy/Royal Marines Surgical Team exercise Clockwork North, Norway

The integration of RNST 1 and 3 together with our integration as a whole with Med Squadron was successfully and effectively implemented and clearly indicated that should we be required to work together as a collective in the future, either in a training capacity or on an operational deployment, we are prepared. The opportunity to carry out AST was highly beneficial and although taxing at times for many, provided a package suitable for all levels of experience. Once again, living in such field conditions was often interesting, sometimes daunting and also eye-opening. The change to the MEDEX phase of the deployment was a disappointment to most but another exercise is planned in Wales. On a positive note, it was very beneficial to actually be involved in erecting the DRASH as previously we had only ever seen it in its formed state. In conclusion, the poignant message from this exercise took three main forms: first, the integration of the two teams was smooth and we worked well together. Secondly, we all learnt something from the high quality arctic training we were given and all successfully passed this, and finally, some new aspects to the DRASH system. All in all this deployment was of a high standard and has shown that the interaction between Med Squadron, Cdo Logistics Regt RM and RNSTs is ever improving.