Page 182 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Undeterred, Sgt Hobson offered to nip into the nearest town the following day and pick up a length of wood to do the job. However, the next morning, as he stepped out of his Portakabin, he tripped over an 18ft white flagpole laid across the steps. No one over at the Dog Section Guardroom owned up to knowing anything about the mystery flagpole but they were keen to help erect the flag in time for the OC’s visit. Trouble was, all attempts to secure the pole in a 45-gallon oil drum filled with sand, didn’t go well. Undeterred, the men borrowed a Land Rover to bring back a haul of large rocks from the beach to stabilise the oil drum but that didn’t work either so the problem bounced back to Sgt Hobson who agreed to buy a bag of cement the following day. Surprise, surprise... the next morning, there was a bag of cement on his doorstep. This second mysterious delivery was gratefully received and the lads spent the day cementing the large stones around the oil drum with the flagpole in the middle.
It was later that afternoon when the Unit was visited by a very irate Range Warden complaining about a flagpole that had gone missing from one of his firing ranges and accusing the dog handlers of stealing it. The following day, someone else turned up complaining about a bag of cement that had gone missing from the prison’s building yard. Sgt Hobson was adamant that the flagpole and cement came together from Long Kesh but, maybe not surprisingly, neither of the complainants believed a word of it. Both went off in a huff probably wishing that they had some proof of wrongdoing – but the soldiers of the Red Paw were too clever for that.
The flagpole was erected outside of the Dog Section Guardroom and it looked very impressive but there was a problem – there was no flagpole rope through the eyelet at the top of the pole. “No problem,” Sgt Hobson announced, he was happy to go into town the following day and pick up a length of rope. Yes, you guessed it. The following morning, curled up on his step, lay a genuine flagpole rope. No questions were asked. The only task left was to get the flag flying ahead of the OC’s arrival. Gathering in order of height, the three tallest members of the section assembled as a base for two of the lighter lads to hop on their shoulders and then the smallest in the Unit climbed up the human pyramid to thread the rope through the eyelet. Job done and the flag was raised for the first time.
Sadly, the joy of seeing the flag flapping in the breeze was short lived thanks to the return of the Range Warden and this time he was in a
mighty rage. Someone, he said, had smashed a small window in his store the previous night and stolen a flagpole rope. Once more, Sgt Hobson reassured him that everything used by the Dog Unit had been specially sent up from Long Kesh. Unconvinced, the Range Warden announced his intention to report the theft to the RMP (Royal Military Police) and that Sgt Hobson was wasting his time defending his Section. In one last attempt to appeal his lads’ innocence to the angry Warden the Sergeant invited him to the OC’s Sunday visit. Perhaps he would like to ask the OC ADU NI RAVC direct about the origin of the supplies?
Once the Warden accepted the invitation, Sgt Hobson was clearly compromised, and had no alternative but to call the OC and explain what his “Loveable Rogues” had been up to and asked if he could please endorse his story that everything to do with the flag – the pole, the rope, and the cement – were supplies from Long Kesh.
That Sunday, the Range Warden waited outside the compound hoping to intercept the OC on his arrival but it didn’t go quite to his plan. As Sgt Hobson and all of D Section held their breath, the OC began to address the gathering. He announced, casting his eyes over to the Range Warden, that he was very impressed to see the flag flying and the use of everything that he, personally, had sent up from Long Kesh. There was a mass sigh of relief from the ‘rogues’ in the Unit!
It is sad, but appropriate to mention here that in September 1999 the ADU NI flagpole was dismantled as, after 25 years in service, it was found to be unsafe. There to oversee its demise was the then incumbent OC, Major Phil Hobson BEM RAVC. Phil Hobson’s relationship with the Unit and the stories surrounding the arrival of that flagpole were, by then, legendary. He became the longest serving OC with ADU NI serving nearly 5 years in total from June 1995 and returned to the Defence Animal Centre in March 2000. He was awarded an MBE for his services to the Army Dog Unit in the Military Division of Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2000. He had already been awarded the BEM in the 1974 New Year’s Honours List for maintaining Unit commitments at 3 ADTU Cyprus during 1973, after all other personnel had been withdrawn and deployed back to Melton Mowbray or to NI as dog handlers or trainers.
Again, it was under Sgt Hobson, on a rotational visit to Magilligan Prison with B Section, that handlers began to notice how the dogs were
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