Page 223 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Once the acclimatisation period was over the dog teams were deployed: three AES dogs were sent to the capital, Pristina, for tasking, while three Protection dog teams journeyed to Skopje and a further trio of Protection teams went to Belacevac. It seemed that once the dogs were available for work the need for their presence multiplied overnight.
While the Unit assisted in the Force Protection of troops, the threat from feral animals reached a high level of concern, so much so that a request was made for an RAVC VO to be deployed from Sennelager to assist with the management of the policy controlling the feral animal population in addition to caring for the twelve dogs working with BRITFOR. Captain Steve Butterton arrived in Kosovo after just five days’ notice.17
Despite his deployment period being only three- months, Captain Butterton managed to establish a fully-equipped clinic within the limits of a 12 foot (3.6 metre) x 12 foot tent, complete with electricity. Beyond that, he also assisted the humanitarian activity on the ground, laying the foundations for his successor, Captain Mark Morrison RAVC, to build upon and create a positive impact on the community. As always in a human war, the animals and those who rely on them for their livelihood, suffer as a consequence. In Kosovo, much of the livestock was destroyed when Serb authorities expelled so many Albanians, and the surviving cattle and sheep were ravaged by disease. Many cows died in the fields – most of them victims of infections against which they had been previously protected by vaccines.
It quickly became apparent that further canine resources were required to further enhance security and relieve other manpower so freeing them from other secondary guarding duties. The Unit eagerly took on other short-term tasks. One task involved providing security to a stranded train close to the airport. Cpl Steve Edgler RAVC, and his Protection dog “Spirrol” were deployed to the site which was clearly vulnerable to vandalism and petty theft. It was on their second night on duty that Cpl Edgler and his dog apprehended an intruder trying to access the train, proving without question that dogs had a particular role to fulfil in this volatile climate. Further dog teams were deployed for three days to the sea port point of departure for Albanians located in Greece. This followed the violent actions of anti-NATO demonstrators who had damaged a large number
of vehicles at the location. Further RAVC Military Working Dog teams provided added temporary security in support of 522 Pioneer Squadron who were there to secure a tented storage facility containing approximately twenty million pounds worth of stores.
The Unit’s AES dogs were also in great demand to cover a variety of roles consisting of routine search operations on which they regularly recovered illegally held weapons. At this time the AES teams were part of the Brigade Provost Unit (the Army Police) and so it was no surprise that they were also part of the close protection activities involving visiting VIPs. One of those VIPs being the UK Prime Minister of the day, Tony Blair. The Police dog on the team provided routine security at the ammunition site and was also successfully deployed to a shooting incident being tasked by the Irish Guards. However, despite being summoned six hours after the initial shooting, Cpl Steve Edgler and his AES dog “Max” did their part of the job by searching and locating a discarded weapon.18
In his report for Chiron Calling in summer 2001, Pte Steve Wallage RAVC, said there were five RAVC dog sections located in Kosovo, and to gain some perspective on that number, he matched the approximate size of Kosovo to Northern Ireland. The article described the range of jobs each section was expected to cover, especially the Specialist sections, as they were tasked to anything from a ‘normal’ run-of-the-mill house searches to searching between dead bodies after a bus explosion. While the Protection sections completed a fair share of work providing camp security they also formed Public Order teams as a consequence of trouble that arose in the town of Mitrovica.19
Numerous communities and their inhabitants were displaced by the civil war and in order to bring stability to the region individuals were moved back to their local areas. However, this was a move that led to a number of men being detained for security purposes and also for their own safety. The Dubrava Temporary Detention Facility (DTDF) was one such institution. It had capacity for four hundred detainees.
In early 2001, there were sixty detainees at the site and contributing to the overall security was LCpl Jim Beaird (RAVC) accompanied by Pte “Totch” Williams (Royal Logistic Corps) accompanied by Guard dogs “Rory” and “Simba”. Their base was a large coal shed – and their living accommo-
17 Chiron Calling Winter 1999/2000 comment by Captain Steve S Butterton RAVC.
18 Extracts from RAVC Support Group Report G3/4/2 dated October 1999.
19 Chiron Calling Summer 2001.
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