Page 116 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
century. The New Year millennium fireworks and celebrations may have dimmed but there was a brightly lit pathway of change stretching ahead for the Corps.
101 MWD Support Unit formed on 1st May 2001 and initially had an establishment of three Officers, 17 soldiers, three civilians and just 13 dogs, with an expected uplift in staffing due to be in place by April 2004 in response to the ever-in- creasing demands for MWD on Expeditionary Operations.37
The RHQ RAVC re-located to the HQ AMS, The Former Army Staff College (FASC) on 21st November 2002.38 The FASC building that many RAVC personnel had the pleasure to work in at Camberley, was renamed Robertson House during January 2016, in honour of Field Marshal Sir William Robertson (1860 – 1933), the only person in the history of the British Army to have risen from the rank of Private soldier to the highest rank of Field Marshal.
With the move, DAVRS and his staff relocated to this building in Camberley as did all the respon- sibilities of the Regimental Secretary. 101 MWD Support Unit subsequently took over the first floor of Fitzwygram House at Gallwey Road, Aldershot.
For some unknown reason the Corps’ history on the Unit in Aldershot during this period is a little sketchy. However, an article by Cpl David Blackmore RAVC in the summer 2004 issue of Chiron Calling fills a few gaps and, it hoped, will provide a memory jolt to those who were there at the time. He wrote:
Aldershot Town are nearing a new beginning of their professional football status. Half a mile away, in a small corner of Buller Barracks, an RAVC Unit is rapidly progressing. With a new OC in place, Major Richard Pope, everyone knew exactly what they had to achieve. Most soldiers will know the phrase: ‘Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Poor Performance’ and many a shorter version no doubt documented here in this history. Some may say, ‘wing it’ but the two phrases are totally contradicting. Every soldier knows what is best and which he prefers. With the 6 ‘Ps’ in mind, military skills were placed at the forefront of any routine, from discipline to dog training.
The emphasis strongly now on ‘train the trainer’, soldiers attended a number of courses from NBC to GPS instructors enabling personnel to carry out in-house training. Soldiers in Aldershot average one range day per month as well as using the Dismounted Close Combat Trainer, or SAT range to the older ones. The
37 PowerPoint presentation dated 14th October 2003.
38 Chiron Calling dated Summer 2002.
39 Army Briefing Note 109/2021 released 22nd October 2021. 40 Chiron Calling Articles dated Summer 2004.
Unit grew in size with new faces appearing with many gleaning Operational experience straight away which enabled quick cohesion and team spirit forming amongst them. With 101 and 102 being the only Operational MWD Sp Units within the Field Army ORBAT (ADU NI RAVC being located in NI), this brought a cycle of ‘a year on high readiness and training, followed by a year on Operations’. 102 at this time were carrying the torch, enabling 101 to gain a little down time to convert to the new radio system, BOWMAN, being introduced into the Army, and to allow time to prepare and plan for an active Bde training year. A high level of competence had to be achieved in nearly all vocations, the Forces being no exception and perhaps more stringent than most fields.
Collective Performance levels are the way in which the Army tests its troops’ proficiency for Operations. Collective Performance levels range from 1-5, the former being individual training such as (ATDs, or ITDs, MATTs or the latest Individual Training Requirements, first announced in October 2021,39 depending on when you may have served), up to the full Bde Exercise or Field Training Exercises. Here all personnel/Units are assessed when deployed in the field. Not only was the Unit busy in the field it was also busy in barracks preparing for the 150th Anniversary of the Army in Aldershot parade.40
At the same time as the 150th Anniversary parade, on 30th April 2004, the RAVC was granted the Freedom of Aldershot. The RAVC Unit based there, ably reinforced by soldiers from five different RAVC Units, all paraded after much drill practice, with the town decked with bunting and ‘School’ children lining the route. The children had been given the day off school and a full programme of events had been planned to include a display by parachutists and all rounded-off with fireworks at twilight. It was a day of celebration for the town and the local Army Units.
Everyone was very much looking forward to the spectacle, but no one had ordered perfect weather. The heavens opened and the rain fell on the parade and stayed around all day to add to the freezing temperature. It may have been, what everyone was saying, the worst weather recorded on any April 30th in the last 150 years, but it was never going to be enough to halt the celebra- tions. The Royal Helicopter had to be diverted from Queens Avenue to Farnborough Airport (to access the all-weather radar landing systems) but the RAVC put on a grand display with ‘bayonets
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