War and Medicine – inside Camp Bastion's hospital

"I am led up the steps of the squat plane and motioned towards a seat ... Half a million rounds of ammunition are cargo-netted around me" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"The Royal Marine Commandos around me appear incredibly young. One of them, who looks like a teenager, is wearing an 8in commando knife in his chest webbing" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"At 10am a T1 casualty (meaning evacuation needed within an hour or less – life threatened) comes through. I rush to my tent to assemble a selection of lenses. I feel a little vulgar. I am a trauma tourist trying to justify my role – to others but, more difficultly, to myself" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"The Chinook finally arrives. The soldier is wheeled across. I watch from a distance with a telephoto lens" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"He is awake, in pain and bloody. One doctor takes notes of every observation. Others direct the x-ray team, manage the unwrapping of the field dressings, check the vital signs, look for internal bleeding and try to calm the soldier" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"Periodically, the senior medics pause to compare priorities. I am impressed by this restraint. Any one of the cases would be life-threatening. Here they seem to be received as routine" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"The anaesthetist is beginning his work. The soldier keeps shouting 'Sir!' as he deliriously looks around. 'Don't take my legs,' he appeals. 'Have I got my legs?' He doesn't believe the doctor, who reassures him" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"I feel dislocated and aimless. I am not certain if my anxiety comes from my ethical fears of delivering a facile response or from the thwarting of adolescent fantasies" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"Two Afghans appear from the ambulances. I am struck by how beautiful they are. The son has shrapnel to his face and is in pain. The daughter has a wound to her leg and looks like aliens have abducted her. She is wide-eyed and confused" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"The mass of lines and tubes almost conceals the mummified soldier" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"During my month-long stay in Helmand, two British soldiers died, 29 were wounded in action and there were 74 admissions to the field hospital" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR

"I arrived back in Britain feeling a great sense of anger. I was frustrated by my previous ignorance of the frequency of injury. Soldiers are surviving wounds that would often have been fatal in previous conflicts. Body armour, medical training and the proximity of advanced surgery to the front line have led to a 'disproportionate' number of casualties surviving" Photograph: David Cotterrell/PR