Page 31 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
hospital capable of all minor and major surgery, where pretty Private Drummondy (“Everyone calls me Tuesday”) Littlefair works. A former greyhound groomer, Tuesday does minor nursing jobs of bathing and administering of potions and anaesthetics.
A WRAC Sergeant and Lance Corporal handle the detachment’s administration. The arrival of the girls has got rid of one headache for the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel F H Orr RAVC, the men formerly employed on basic obedience training are now released for more advanced combat work.
The girls have to guard against becoming too attached to any particular dog and, so far, tearful parting scenes have been avoided, although several devious strings have occasionally been pulled in attempts to stop certain dogs being posted away from the Unit.
Dog training techniques – formerly a man’s job in the Army – have been learned with speed and understanding by the WRACs. The dogs, in turn, have responded well to commands from a softer female voice. Once trained – it takes about two months – the dogs are sent back to establishments, barracks, and camps anywhere between Berlin and Belgium. And in the week-by-week build-up of a dog’s willingness to obey a snap command, the girls are playing a vital role.3
The Spring 1964 issue of the RAVC Journal reported the good news that the training commitment was met, despite the fact that a tactical troop of RAVC and MSO dog handlers were attached to the US Forces in the Munchen area for a month-long Exercise. It was one of several exercises: the Unit held an initiative called “Out and Return” – the purpose of this was to see which party of two people, travelling together, could get the furthest away from Sennelager and back on a one-way ticket in 48 hours, with only five Deutsche Marks (DMs) in their pockets. The winners made it to Basle and back! The previous year, a section, again attached to the US Army, were entered into another four-week exercise in the Bavarian Alps where both men and dogs felt the strain from mountain climbing. The section consisted of Tracking, Patrol and Guard dogs with RAVC handlers for specialist dogs, and the MSO handling Guard dogs. The ‘enemy’ forces were duly impressed. They witnessed one older dog’s ability to follow the scent for four hours over the mountains, despite the use of pepper (specially flown in from their US HQ in France) to distract and foil the Tracker dogs in their path.
Sadly, amidst all the healthy competition results that year there was one unfortunate event
3 Soldier Magazine article dated July 1963.
4 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 35 No 1 Spring 1964.
5 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 35 No 2 Autumn 1964.
reported by the Veterinary Hospital and it involved a detachment’s dog that needed to be destroyed after being attacked by a rabid fox – even though the dog had been given a rabies inoculation. In Germany there was no evading or contesting the Law – and so, unfortunately, the dog had to go.4
It was in the summer of 1964 that the ‘face’ of the landscape in and around Sennelager began to show significant change. Where once the view had consisted of large areas of waste and uncultivated land, now stood vast multi-storey blocks of flats which provide excellent accommodation for Army families. The roads also underwent a re-vamp and so the once cobbled and tyre destroying second class cart tracks were being rapidly replaced by long and well-maintained highways which branched out in all directions throughout Germany. These developments reflected the air of prosperity that was beginning to pervade the Schloss Neuhaus area. New churches, private dwelling houses and large stores were dominating an area that had, until recently, been stretches of poorly cultivated land. The trams with their clank and rattle disappeared only to be replaced with quieter more contemporary forms of transport – making a ride over tram lines less fearsome than before.
In Sennelager there was an air of ‘sameness’ in the STC: the road to the Unit was still cobbled and well-worn and covered with sand in the summer – which rapidly changes to mud after the summer storms. But change inevitably encroached on the Unit, just as it had on the locality. For the dog training side of the Unit, the biggest challenge to progress at the time was the severely restricted manpower. Despite that handicap, duties and commitments continued with customary efficiency and that included welcoming visitors from overseas including the Canadian Battle School whose representatives came to see how British Army dogs worked. The visit provided the perfect opportunity to arrange for handlers and dogs to take part in a joint training exercise with the Canadian Infantry Brigade.5 During their successful 1965 exercise, the Canadian Battle School was assisted by Sgt Alex Mell and LCpl Ray Angwin using an Infantry Patrol dog and a Tracker, capabilities that were to move into standard use.
The supply of young dogs waned during the later months of that year. But the New Year experienced a steady flow of dogs being offered to the intake kennels that were soon filled to capacity.
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