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Lisa Martin

back at sea

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I was born and brought up in Co Down, N Ireland. While at University I spent 3 years with the University of London Royal Naval Unit as an Honorary Midshipman which included many weekends spent onboard the Training vessel HMS PUNCHER learning how to navigate around the UK and Northern France. For the final 3 years of medical school I had a Royal Naval Medical Cadetship.

 

After graduation I worked in London for a year before moving down to Portsmouth to begin my Naval Training. I worked in Ministry of Defence hospital unit at QA hospital Portsmouth for 2 years before taking over my current appointment as Medical Officer for the Submarine Escape Tower. This job has taken me to many different countries in Europe for submarine escape exercises and I completed my water descent parachute course to be part of the Submarine Parachute Assistance Group. I am due to go back to sea in January 2009 as Medical Officer to HMS RICHMOND for a 6 month deployment to the Gulf.

 

In October 2007 I took Command of HMS DOLPHIN Volunteer Cadet Corp, based in Fort Blockhouse, for 9-18yr olds who want to learn about the navy and enjoy lots of activities and sports including Field Gun Competitions and demonstrations.

 

During my time in the Navy I have been able to continue my love of sports representing the Navy at Hockey, Skiing and Badminton. The opportunities for adventure training within the Navy are also fantastic especially due to the new Royal Navy Centre in Bavaria where I spent a week this summer kayaking, climbing, mountain biking and hill walking.

Posts by Lisa Martin

4th May 2009

Dubai Shopping

Posted by Lisa Martin at 4:16 pm
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Ceremonial Sunset at the Kuwait Cocktail Party

Hello Shippers,

 

Its been a long time since I have written about my travels, and that is mostly because I have been enjoying myself in Dubai, but more about that later!

 After another 2 week patrol around the Oplats we headed into Kuwait for a 2 day visit. This was to coincide with the visit of HRH Prince Andrew who came onboard for a cocktail party, along with many high ranking Kuwait Officials. It was very interesting chatting to the Kuwait Naval Officers, learning the difference between our cultures.

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26th March 2009

Bahrain, Cluedo and Mail

Posted by Lisa Martin at 4:18 pm
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 Again it’s been a while since I updated you on my travels. We made our way through the Gulf of Aden, an area which has had a lot of press coverage recently due to the piracy and drug smuggling activities, and then on through the entrance to the Gulf; the Straits of Hormuz.  This is a narrow channel with Iran on one side and United Arab emirates on the other, and so transit through is a time of heightened security for the ship. Finally after 12 days at sea we reached Bahrain for a well deserved visit along with the chance to embark a significant amount of stores for the ship.

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15th February 2009

Sunshine is Finally Here

Posted by Lisa Martin at 2:46 pm
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It is so nice to be making our way further south into the sunshine. I can’t believe how much snow has fallen in the UK, we have been following the news and getting pictures sent through of snow filled back gardens. In some ways I am sad because I love snow and it would have been amazing to see it fall in that amount in the UK. But instead we are breaking out the sun screen and swimming in the sea on port visits. On board we have a satellite TV system which allows us to pick up British forces broadcasting service, keeping us up to date with news from home. We also get daily updates taken from UK newspapers including sports reports on our computers.

 

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5th February 2009

The Journey Continues

Posted by Lisa Martin at 4:29 pm
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3 comments

Hello again

 Since my last post we have made our way down the coast of Spain and Portugal and after a quick stop in Gibraltar are now transiting through the Mediterranean. The sea state is now much more settled and so I have started to fall into a regular working pattern. We normally get up around 0700 and I have my first clinic at 0800 for anyone who is not feeling well. This tends to be mostly simple coughs, colds and sports injuries such as ankle sprains. It is very unlike working in the accident and emergency department that I am used to, as you do not have x-ray or blood tests immediately available.

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20th January 2009

The Blog Begins

Posted by Lisa Martin at 11:29 am
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Hello Shippers, this is my first entry in what will hopefully be a relatively amusing account of what a Royal Navy Medical Officer gets up to at sea.

I am onboard HMS RICHMOND which is a type 23 frigate. We left Portsmouth on Monday morning in procedure alpha, where we all get in our number 1 uniform and line the upper deck. Many families and friends braved the cold wet weather to stand on round tower and wave us off on our deployment to the Gulf as part of Operation Telic, the UK’s contribution to the international coalition of warships conducting maritime security in the region.

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