Page 263 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Task B. Shooting at Lewa Downs. Security men ambushed three armed men heading through the Conservancy, but they got away from them. Due to the risk at night of a contact between their own security men, the follow up was called off. However, we did take the dogs out the following morning to see if we could pick up any tracks. Bonnie tracked about 1000 metres and it was believed that she was tracking one of the persons who separated from the group when fired upon by Lewa security men. Bonnie was pulled up when it was obvious that we would not be able to catch him inside Lewa Downs. Murphy followed two persons for about 500 metres and again we stopped the track as we could see good visual signs e.g., footprints in the dusty terrain.
Task C. Shooting and slight injury of one male at the village of Sigmangua just outside Lewa perimeter fence. After a small amount of confusion, Murphy followed the track of three armed persons believed to be involved in an internal tribal dispute. He tracked for about one kilometre along the outer fence of Lewa Downs but lost it by the side of a well-used track near the western gate of the Conservancy. Again, there were visual signs of the men stopping – being around the side of the road. This track was nine hours cold when we started.
Task D. Shooting at Ol Jogi Ranch. Team comprising myself, John Pameri (the dog handler), Riman Kiperus and Tracker dog Murphy were tasked to assist following the shooting of a Mr Kenyon. We commenced tracking at 0830 hrs from a point where footprints had been found. After tracking for 50 metres, we moved on 4 km to some fresher footprints. The track restarted and continued for 2 km. We stopped again and moved on some 6 km to a school where more footprints were found. At about 0850 hrs we were joined by about forty people, twenty of whom were armed police, Kenya Wildlife Service and security men from Ol Jogi.
Murphy had tracked for about 40 minutes when I was called forward by the handler and saw that he had located five armed men about 10 metres forward in a dried riverbed. At this point a number of police had come forward and opened fire. I immediately lay on top of Murphy and beside the handlers. The firing ceased after about what seemed like two or three minutes. Then we discovered that everybody else had left the scene. We ourselves then withdrew about 100 metres and re-joined the main party. Some 40 minutes later the police returned to the contact point beside the riverbed and recovered:
One x AK47 with magazine and ten rounds, one x radio, one x torch, one x calculator, plus other items stolen from Mr Kenyon’s property. The police found one gunman several metres away in the grass with bullet wounds to his leg and hand. In his possession was 3780 Ksh (Kenyan shillings) believed to have been stolen from
the Kenyon property.
A helicopter came in and took two injured security
guards plus the gun man to hospital. It then returned for us. We were asked to track again, but due to the heat and tiredness of the dogs we could not carry on. We returned to Lewa at about 2300 hrs.16
Saudi Arabia -Short Term Training Team – 1999
The Saudi Arabian National Guard or SANG (Arabic: ّينطَولا سَرَحلا, lit. ‘al-Haras al-Watani’), also known as the “White Army”, is one of the three major branches of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The National Guard is under the administrative control of the Ministry of the National Guard, instead of the Ministry of Defence. It differs from the regular Saudi army in being forged out of tribal elements loyal to the House of Saud and tasked with protecting the royal family from internal dangers such as a coup d’état.
Sergeant Martyn Thompson RAVC was tasked with providing ceremonial training to the mounted unit who were responsible for the personal protection of King Abdullah. The key milestone was the official opening of the 4-star Western Division Headquarters in Jeddah in February 1999. Deploying in January of that year, Sergeant Thompson was initially based in Riyadh and delivered training support in the desert region just outside the capital.
There were one hundred Arabian horses and riders who made up the Unit. The horses were also used to produce snake anti-venom and thus were an incredibly important part of the country’s outputs. Training was challenging, but with the help of an interpreter the principles of section/ division/crowd control and vehicle escort were all established.
The Unit moved en masse from Riyadh to Jeddah for the final three weeks of rehearsal and the parade went ahead as planned with the Saudi Arabian National Guard providing the travelling escort for King Abdullah for the official opening. The risk of assassination was nothing short of extreme, and security was incredibly tight, but a professional and well delivered parade was achieved.
Return to Kenya – 2001
All the groundwork laid-down by the RAVC team in 1997 was up set for regular review and in 2001 personnel returned to provide more training to support the vital wildlife protection programme. SSgt Tam Nicol was one of the trainers to deploy and record his time there – In the Footsteps Of...
16 Chiron Calling dated Summer 1998.
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