Page 186 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Specialist Dog Section and was able to secure a Married Quarter so that his wife and two children could join him. When his family arrived in the Province, he decided to introduce them to the local amenities by taking a trip to a supermarket in Waterside to pick-up some groceries and get a feel for the community. The family had only just managed to grab a trolley when an announcement went out over the tannoy: someone had called in a bomb threat. As instructed, Sgt Hobson and his family abandoned their shopping trolley and dutifully went outside to wait for the military to arrive but when they reached the car park they couldn’t help noticing that some quick thinking local shoppers were busy emptying the contents of full trollies into their cars and driving off!
Sgt Hobson’s military career, which included a commission in 1986, took him back to NI in 1995 as OC ADU NI RAVC. The unit still came under the umbrella of G1/G4 HQ NI and, in September 1998 as part of the units’ monthly meeting at HQ NI, proceedings included an introduction to the new Colonel G1/G4. Sitting at a large oval table, each unit OC introduced themselves in turn but when Major Hobson introduced himself, the new Colonel did something he had not done with the others – he picked up his beret and pointed to something the Major could not quite make out. Taking his opportunity at the coffee break, Hobson strode towards the Colonel eager to check out his beret. There, next to his cap badge was a Red Paw. Unable to hold back, he reminded his new CO that only ADU NI RAVC personnel were eligible to wear that badge. Without hesitation the Colonel accepted the validity of that statement but then explained that, as a young ATO, he had been given the badge by a Sergeant in 8 Infantry Brigade, to which Major Hobson replied: “I know...I did!”
When the Army arrived, the AES dog and handler were, as usual, the first to step out of the vehicle. “Look Dad,” said Sgt Hobson’s 7-year-old son, very proudly, “there’s one of your dogs!” The loud remark attracted some very nervous glances from some of the few lingering shoppers.
Ebrington Barracks was the principal location for 8 Inf Brigade handlers and in 1993 they numbered thirteen AES and five Tracker teams. The barracks also rotated dogs and personnel to the sub-loca- tions; Fort George, Strabane and Omagh. The UDR at Omagh, Ballykelly, Magherafelt and Enniskillen provided a further nine Search dogs. The Bde Sgt was also tasked to oversee Regimental Patrol dog sections – the RMP at Clooney Barracks, the
20 Ibid.
21 Oral testimony Major Robert P Hart RAVC dated 19th October 2020.
Resident Battalion at Omagh and the Depot Royal Irish Rangers at Ballymena bringing the Sgt’s total responsibility to eighteen to twenty Patrol dogs and Regimental handlers.
One of those dogs, Search dog ‘Major’, was tasked in response to an anonymous phone call warning of a bomb in the local supermarket at Sixmilecross, a small village in County Tyrone. Major searched the site thoroughly but gave no indications. It later transpired that the phone call was a hoax.20 This became a favourite terrorist tactic designed to lure troops to a place to observe their search techniques and procedures or to simply exhaust the team, ahead of planting a booby trap to catch them out. However, this kind of cowardly trickery wasn’t something the terrorists could rely on indefinitely. Very quickly the handlers, and the soldiers beside them, realised what was going on and developed counter-procedures to, wherever possible, thwart these deadly tactics.
39th Infantry Brigade (Belfast) accepted responsibility for the remainder of the Province. It was the smallest AOR but it covered the heaviest concentration of the population, in addition to NI’s two main airports – Aldergrove (Belfast Inter- national) and Belfast City. It also took in the busy seaports of Larne and Belfast. Consequently, it was the largest of the ADU’s Brigades with eighteen to twenty dogs and handlers, located in Palace Barracks near Holywood, in County Down, from where they deployed to all other ‘city’ locations on a rotational basis.
Belfast Roulement Units covered the infamous Divis Flats, from North Howard Street, Mill Barracks, Girdwood Park Barracks, and Fort Whiterock Barracks (famously demolished in May 1999). This bandit heartland, crouched at the core of West Belfast, was an extremely volatile area where searches mostly involved occupied and derelict houses and factories, plus, as they had in the early days of the Troubles, rummage (a quick, unplanned search), route (a systematic search of a road or carriage way, usually for munitions) and railway line searches and open areas. It was usual for handlers to use Woodbourne Police Station, McCorry Park, and the Springfield Road RUC station as start and concluding points for patrols.
Both handlers and dogs had it tough. It was said, by many, that ‘even the local dogs were against the squaddies that patrolled the streets, and would always choose to attack fresh, unsuspecting Army dogs, much to the handlers’ disgust’.21 Danger lay
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