Page 214 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
HQ NSE where they were reliably informed that they were very much needed and were to remain in theatre and further support the deficient Force Protection measures. This was a very clear indication that this, first expeditionary deployment from DASU, was establishing its worth to the UN. On average, handlers managed to apprehend at least one intruder per month.
The team’s success and long-term prospects created a new challenge – the need to find suitable accommodation for the dogs. Arriving with the team of MWDs, their food and equipment was something that the RAVC personnel had achieved with little or no support and now it was up to the RAVC JNCOs to find other solutions to their G4 related struggles. First to be eliminated was the use of aluminium transit kennels which were intolerable in the bitter cold climate. Cpl Rivers set about seizing a disused ammo bunker; however, the entrance to the bunker was small and Rivers had to reconfigure the doorway to fit ‘Lacons’ inside. The dogs’ comfort was paramount and this drove the pace of the work and the team’s eagerness to see the new accommodation, complete with loose run compound, fully up and running.
The dogs were transported to all locations which meant borrowing vehicles for all in-theatre moves. Locations that did not have MWD cover, continued to experience a significant level of theft of equipment and supplies particularly at North Port at Split, where most UN stores, and food, were being imported. Plenty of high profile patrolling and static sentries positioned at the main gate provided a deterrent and protected locally employed civilians arriving for work. The thieves who risked it were simply caught red-handed. It was a simple fact that as word of the dogs spread, the thefts diminished. At Split, intruders were apprehended on a regular basis and one incident at Ploce saw five people arrested without the need to release a dog.5
The demand for RAVC handlers began to take its take a toll on the team and it was agreed that the only way to resolve the issue of overwhelm and fatigue was to train more handlers – but to do that training in theatre and also to allow the multiple handling of the dogs. It was the JNCOs who convinced HQ DASU and Bde HQ that this was the way forward and so the RAVC team dispatched, from Sennelager under the leadership of Cpl Hart, a steady stream of trained handlers resulting in the formation of several dog sections.
Four Pioneer handlers were trained to assist in the security of DJ Barracks. Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) handlers patrolled ‘the section from hell’ – Lipa – a huge ammunition and fuel depot located in a deep ravine on a high mountain pass. Lipa was secured with three Protection dogs handled by personnel from 4 General Service Regiment RLC. Later, when the Pioneers returned home, four Yorkshire Regiment Reserve handlers were trained to assist at DJ Bks.
As more units sought to employ dogs, or silent sentries, the Corps was offered a not to be missed opportunity to expand the flourishing capability. Successful sections were established at Kupres, as well as North Port and DJ Bks at Split. Others followed later at Šipovo, where the RE (Royal Engineers) were based and a large UK Field Hospital. At Kupres, budding handlers patrolled a notorious ‘wood yard’ where bouts of ruthless slaughter and savagery led to countless deaths at the hands of Serbian forces. Other handlers were trained for duties in Gornji Vakuf (“Tom Factory” and “P Factory”) and Glamoc. The deployment of more and more RAVC personnel to Bosnia demon- strated, once again, the important contribution the Corps could make to future operations overseas.
Soldier Magazine captured the importance of the RAVC’s contribution in Bosnia in the story, Dogged approach pays off for the teeth arm that lost its bite – How DASU ran its own show:
It was a dog’s life for Cpls Rob Hart and Percy Rivers when they arrived in Bosnia. When with a couple of other two-legged and six four-legged members from the RAVC DASU in Sennelager, they arrived in early December (1995) to provide security for 24 Airmobile Brigade units based at Ploce. Their canine charges had undergone an intensive six-month course to adapt them to UN rather than NATO rules of engagement.
“Their previous training made them non-aggressive. They were taught to hold on without piercing the skin or biting”, Cpl Hart explained. Just weeks after arriving in theatre the brigade was short toured and the Royal Anglians, whom the DASU had trained as handlers returned to Britain.
“We had to change back to IFOR rules and retrain all the dogs to make them bite properly,” said Cpl Hart. The dogs were flown from Sennelager in special
air-portable aluminium kennels in which they spent the next three months as there were no suitable facilities available at Split. The transit kennels were so small the dogs had to be constantly exercised. For a while the animals were housed in a tent close to a site used for personnel in transit, and there were a few near misses before a safe location was found in an abandoned concrete
5 Memo from Cpl Robert P Hart RAVC to SO2 G3 Major O’Dwyer dated 16th February 1996.
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