THE acting station commander of RAF Odiham has spoken of how blanket media coverage added to the stress that families at the base went through while their loved ones were serving in the Iraq conflict.

Wing commander Guy van den Berg told the Odiham parish annual assembly that the Chinook helicopters of 27 and 18 Squadrons, which were deployed in mid-January, put in 2,300 flying hours in the Gulf.

Around 650 Odiham staff helped in key areas, including the support of the Royal Marines on the Al Faw Peninsular in South-Eastern Iraq. They also assisted in the capture of the key port of Umm Qasr and the city of Basra and supported the Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade in the Ramala oilfields.

Wing Cdr van den Berg spoke of his shock upon hearing news about the deaths of troops in crashes at the start of the war.

He said: "I turned on the television and they were talking about something benign, but then they had subtitles at the bottom of the screen saying that 16 Royal Marines had been killed.

"I stood there for 15 minutes waiting for confirmation of who it was.

"There were families here waiting in sheer trepidation that it was a Chinook, but it turned out to be an American Sea Knight helicopter.

"A lot of wives went into absolute flat spin - the power of the media has a tremendous impact on the families."

He added: "Some of the girls watched television 24 hours a day but we did try to stop that happening because if you watch TV all day long it becomes a very depressing box to watch."

Wing Cdr van den Berg said it was "tremendous" that no personnel from Odiham had lost their lives during the campaign.

Members of 27 Squadron have now returned home, and those remaining are helping the humanitarian effort in Basra and Safwan.

Referring to the situation in Iraq as a whole, Wing Cdr van den Berg said: "We have morally created a problem and we have morally got to sort it out. We will be there for some considerable period of time."