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The journalists all described it as a great honour and privilege to have been there, and Richard said it was "absolutely life-changing".

He said: "We slept in trenches we dug ourselves as soon as we got into Iraq, it wasn't comfortable and it was very cold - in the end we slept with our chemical suits on to keep warm."

Later he slept on concrete floors in various temporary bases, until they got to Basra.

He said: "There we slept in Saddam's palace. We still slept on the floor, but it was a marble floor instead of concrete."

Although Mark Nicholls, from the Eastern Daily Press, was at a permanent air base in Northern Kuwait, conditions weren't much better.

He said: "This time last year, there were 400 or so at the base but while we were there, there were around 1,400 personnel. We lived in tents, and some of the showers and toilets were also temporary - temporary and temperamental.

"But it wasn't a problem at all - it was the same for everyone."

The reporters were embedded with military units, and both Mark and Richard felt that worked well.

Mark said: "While we were part of the group, we were always identified as media. At first, people were cautious and weren't quite sure what they could say to us. But after a while they accepted us, and often gave us little tip-offs."

And one night in particular stood out - when from midnight to 3am there were five air-raids.

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