Providing Medical Support to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines, Falkland Islands, 1982

It is one of my regrets that I never kept a diary of events during Operation Corporate, not just because it would now be a useful record for my family, who, after all, probably suffered more than I did during that three-month period, but because it has become increasingly apparent that there are many different perspectives on the same event, even when they come from those who were there. What follows is, however, based on my contemporaneous post-operation report as the Officer Commanding of No. 3 Medical Troop of the Medical Squadron, some documentary records – which in themselves often conflict – and my first-hand experiences. Operation Corporate, like every exercise or operation the military is engaged in, is subsequently micro-analysed: what happened; what went well or wrong; and what should be learned. Implementing some lessons is straightforward, but for others it is not so.