Page 183 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
frequently limping after patrolling inside the prison. Everyone gave the same account – their dog suddenly flinched and yelped for no apparent reason. On a closer examination, the dogs’ coats revealed the truth – they were littered with large 1.5 inch staples.
After a few nights of observation, the handlers identified the compound guilty of catapulting the staples through the windows and wasted no time in reporting their findings to Sgt Hobson. Dead set on revenge, he hit on a plan. At 4.30am, he collected all the uneaten sandwiches from his dog handlers, plus the leftovers from the lads in the resident battalion who manned the watch towers on the perimeter fence. Then, after breaking the food down into several carrier bags, he headed for the compound responsible and, under the cover of darkness, threw the bags onto the roof of the accommodation hut. Bearing in mind that Magilligan Prison is right on the coast, it didn’t take long for the resident seagulls to get wind of the unexpected food delivery and within no time at all a flock of more than sixty of the greedy birds were pecking, stamping, and fighting over the scraps on the corrugated tin roof!
Later that morning the prisoners made an official complaint to the Warden describing the deafening noise made by the birds clattering around on the roof and how it had kept them awake! The Warden sent for Sgt Hobson and explained that he had to be seen to issue some form of disciplinary action but couldn’t help laughing and admiring the Sergeant’s ingenuity. It was officially recorded, for the prisoners’ sake, that Sgt Hobson had been reported to his military bosses and disciplined for his actions. More importantly, no more staples were ever found on the dogs.
The relationship between the incarcerated prisoner and the dog handler doing his duty was a fine balancing act of behaviour buffered by a dark sense of humour. Sergeant John Corbin RAVC, Section Sergeant at The Maze prison (and at Magilligan prison in the same period, between September ’75 – March ’76) recalled a Christmas story with a twist difference: “At the Maze the handlers’ duty rota entailed one-day on duty; one day standby; one day rest with duties including patrolling the catwalks, three-hour stags around the prison perimeter and the nearby Long Kesh airfield. It was while I was up there over Christmas that a handler came back off stag saying the prisoners were wishing us a Happy Christmas. It was written on one of the hut
13 Chiron Calling Issue 3 dated April 1974.
14 HQNI documents dated 22nd April 1975 – 29th May 1975.
windows. I remember saying to him, not to be so daft but he insisted he was right. So, when I went around to the hut I could see what was going on: it was Merry Christmas UDA on the ‘inside’ of the window, and ironically, ADU on the outside!
Humour and camaraderie amongst handlers were the lifeblood of the Unit and so was the respect between handlers. As usual most of the ‘funnies’ came out of things not going entirely to plan, as John Corbin remembers about one practice session for a visiting officer, Major Berridge, at Long Kesh: “The request came through for there to be an inspection and march past so to get the Sections ready I decided a practice run through would be a good idea. I got them all fell in one afternoon and explained what we going to do, only to hear one handler say, ‘I can’t do squad obedience, he will bite me!’ I told the lad not to give me that crap and get fell in! I gave the Sections a once-over and decided that they were ready: ‘listen in, by the right quick march!’ At which point a loud yell and shouts of ‘leave...ow! He’s biting me!’ belted out from the squad. Trying not to laugh I gave the order: ‘Gamble fall out!’ which he did while still shouting ‘I told you he would bite me!’
The reason there are few references to Guard dog handlers in the NI Operations Summaries is that their success can only be assessed in two unspectacular ways: firstly, from the low number of breakouts and break-ins which confirmed the value of a dog and handler team as a deterrent, and secondly by their success in apprehending the few who dared to attempt an escape. In short, if nothing happens then the Guard dog, has done his duty. In appreciation of the cheerful and efficient way the E2 Guard dog handlers carried out their duties at the time, the RAVC members recorded entries along the lines of: “Yet another would be escapee was caught by an E2 handler on Sunday 24th March at 0500 hrs and from the amount of abuse hurled at dogs and handlers by detainees their deterrent value has indirect endorsement.”13
During April 1975, a concern was voiced regarding the level of commitment of Army dogs to Northern Ireland Prisons.14 A month later, an intention was muted to set up a civilian Prison Service Dog Section to free up Army manpower. Although it was agreed politically that prisoners should be guarded by a civilian authority and that the replacement of military guard dog handlers with civilians would save on manpower, the practi- calities of the plan had clearly not been thoroughly
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