Page 190 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
been watching the soldier as he moved to get out of the car and then, mercilessly opened fire with an M60 belt-fed machine gun. Cpl Ham and his Tracker dog, ‘Jaguar ’, accompanied by another soldier, raced from nearby to the scene. First Aid was administered but too little avail.
It was Cpl Ham who made the initial contact report on that freezing, cold dark night.
In quick return fire by the unit, one of the IRA gun team was killed and the others bolted in all directions. Initially, Cpl Ham cast Jaguar to track around buildings to the south of the firing points, but as that didn’t produce a result, the team redeployed rapidly to a dirt track to the north where the dog quickly followed a trail. On reaching a fast-flowing river, the track petered out and just one look at the width and the speed of the water told dog and handler that crossing was impossible. After recasting, Jaguar picked up another trail which, nose to ground, he tracked along the side of a ditch. After just a few moments, Ham caught sight of a twin flex cable and, ahead, a culvert. Jag had done his job. The track was halted.
The next day ATO defused a 900lb device that had been planted with a specific purpose – to kill members of the emergency services as they crossed over the culvert. Later, intelligence uncovered that the terrorist who had been tasked to detonate the bomb, was killed in one of the first contacts. Added to that, the IRA publicised that one of their volunteers had been wounded and then succumbed to his injuries in the fast-flowing river.26
Task Reports
Task Reports, understandably, were completed on the conclusion of each activity. The report required a date/time, name/dog appointment title, location, narrative, and result. They, alongside the support and testament of soldiers from other regiments, became the truest reflection of life for dogs and their handlers at work during the Troubles.
In 1974, during the month of December, ADU NI received 862 taskings, which were undertaken with an average of fifty-two dogs, occupying 2,122.25 hours. During the same period, no burglaries, trespasses at MoD establishments or escapes from any of the HM Prisons in the Province27 took place.
A decade later, (late 1984), Task Reports revealed a higher number of dogs and a higher profile for the
ADU: there were forty-four Wagtails (AES), twelve Groundhogs (Trackers) and one hundred and one Snappers (Guard) deployed across the Province. At that time there were thirty-one E2 Specialist dog handlers and thirty-five Guard dog handlers with the balance of Specialist dogs being handled by RAVC or UDR soldiers. The resident battalion handlers, UDR and civil patrolmen shared the handling of the Guard dogs. At this time, the Unit had passed the figure of 100,000 NI Security Force taskings and been the focus of features in Soldier Magazine, VISOR, and numerous radio interviews all of which resulted in valuable Public Relations and positive media coverage.
The report (dated 6th November 1984) went on to say that the number of Tracker Dog taskings had fallen off considerably since the compilation of the previous report in June 1984, but on the occasions when the dogs had been deployed they turned up extremely useful information. Brigade Operations Officers continued to recognise the dogs’ high level of expertise by continuing to demand their presence. The Guard dog section at Long Kesh continued to support the Roulement Prison Guard Force and in addition to this, the duties of the NCO IC Long Kesh section, included giving Northern Ireland Re-Inforcement Training Team (NIRTT) and Northern Ireland Training Establishment (NITE) course instruction and demonstrations in dog work.28
As the Unit’s dogs and handlers marched into the 1990s an era of change was dawning. Through 1992 there were one hundred and sixty-nine Army dogs that fell under the administration of the RAVC consisting of sixty-one AES, sixteen Tracker, eighty-eight Patrol and four VS dogs deployed across the entire province.29 However, the ceasefire declared by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA, locally called Provos) and other Paramil- itary organisations in the autumn of 1994 was responsible for a noticeable drop in the tasking of AES and VS dog taskings. They numbered only 18.66% of the previous year which were 6,196 tasks. Consequently, there were fewer ‘finds’.30 What can’t be overlooked, was the ‘quality’ of the finds at that time and, ultimately, the devastation averted as a consequence of the dogs’ presence.
For example, by 1996 figures were down to one hundred and forty-four Army dogs in the Province. In partnership with their handlers the dog teams completed more than 175,000 tasks,
26 Annex B to 1333 VR dated 14th January 1985.
27 Summary of Significant Searches and Tracks by MoD dogs in Northern Ireland for the month of December 1974, HQ NI memo’ dated 10th January 1975,
Reference NI 010 VR: RAVC Archives.
28 Annex A to 1429VR dated 6th November 1984.
29 Documents and notes from SSgt Chris Ham at that time during 1990.
30 DU1331 VR letter dated 11th July 1996.
182