On 15 February 2002, members of 1 HSB deployed to the United Nations Military Hospital in Dili, East Timor. The team that deployed consisted of a Medical Officer, Medical Assistants, Medical Imaging and Pathology staff, and Environmental Health and Logistics/Operations staff. 1HSB arrived in country to find that a medical team from the Egyptian contingent shared a portion of the hospital compound with the Australian Contingent already in place.  The Egyptians provided the following services: an Operating Theatre, a Primary Health Care Team (PHCT), Physiotherapy and Dental services, and a medical/surgical ward.

1 HSB took over the existing Australian Operating Theatre, Intensive Care Unit, medical/surgical ward, Medical Imaging and Pathology services. After a three-day hand over from Australian Contingent 5 (ASC 5), the hospital became our responsibility. We were busy right from the word go, as there were patients already on the ward, and our first resus came in the day after we had finished the handover. When the Egyptians pulled out, their tour of duty complete, all areas of the hospital became our responsibility and we needed to increase the number of medical and logistics staff to maintain the capability as outlined in our mandate. That was when the supplementation group arrived. This group consisted of Nursing Officers, Medical Assistants, a Dental Team, Physiotherapist, and Logistics staff. After the supplementation staff arrived we went to work setting up a PHCT and Dental facility. 

We now ran the entire hospital. We provided care for defence members from the many nations working for the United Nations in East Timor, United Nations civilian personnel, as well as some humanitarian aid, and accepted emergency admissions from the Dili National Hospital. The hospital was located in the grounds of the old Dili Museum. The compound was approx 300m2 but seemed a lot smaller if you were having a bad day. The building that housed the ward, headquarters and the mess became known as the lemon squeezer, for obvious reasons… 

Most people worked in one area for the entire deployment but some of the medics and nurses were able to rotate through the ward, resus and PHCT. We had opportunity to visit Dili National hospital; and we also had monthly range shoots that were a bit of fun and more often than not involved a lot of running around and a small swim (which was always a relief because it was so hot.) 

It wasn’t all work however; there were many social activities also. “The Shed” was open every night so you could have a drink (or two; and only two…), and spend some time with mates or anyone who happened to be there and movies were shown 3 times a week. There were trivia nights, fancy dress a mini-Olympics and my personal favourite, karaoke. Most of us were also given the opportunity at some point to get out of the compound. These opportunities included trips to Mt Ramaleau, visits to other areas within East Timor, including the New Zealand and Thai Areas of Operation. There were also trips into and around the local Dili area to check out the local sites and customs. 

Relief-Out-of-Country-Leave, or ROCL, was exactly that; two weeks leave away from work and our tiny compound. Work areas were staffed by very capable ' ROCL replacements' (very popular people as they were our meal ticket out of there for a few weeks, and they were someone new to talk to!), visiting medical specialists came and went, as did the patients, to all areas of the hospital. 

The highlights… ANZAC day. There is something very special about standing with your mates, in uniform, on operational deployment, on ANZAC Day. We were also very fortunate to witness the birth of the newest country in the world and we were also privileged to have a few distinguished guests drop in around the time of the Independence Day celebrations. These guests included the then Chief of Army Lieutenant General Cosgrove, Prime Minister John Howard, The Force Commander General Winnai, and Deputy Force Commander Major General Gordon and the President of East Timor, Xanana Gusmão.

Finally, it was time to close the hospital and hand over to a medical team from Thailand. After we had closed all that was left was to pack up and come home. We left on the morning of 9 September 2002. We were driven to the airport to wait for the aircraft that was going to take us home to our families and friends (it might have just been me, but the flight home was the longest 6 hours of my life). Eventually we arrived in Richmond, tired and dishevelled but happy to be home. We were driven back to the unit where the people who stayed behind had organised a huge welcome home. We all attended post deployment decompression and went our separate ways for leave (which we all needed!) and the rest as they say is history.