Page 318 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
(Mau-Mau), Cyprus (EOKA), Muscat and Oman, Aden, Germany (three times), Malaya, Singapore, Borneo (confrontation) and now has his first home posting in his Army career. He says: “Every person who works here is ‘bombed out’ on dogs – he has to be.”
Last year more than six hundred dog handlers, repre- senting Ministry of Defence police, civilians and Army regiments, were trained at the centre. There is a short three-week course for guard and security dog handlers who come to Melton Mowbray and are ‘married up’ with a dog, trained and posted with it. For specialist dogs, known colloquially as “sniffers” but in fact embracing tracker and arms search dogs, the course is as long as three months. Again, the handler will continue with the dog with which he has trained.
The Army does not breed its own dogs as it is not thought to be economical. It buys some from dealers and others come from members of the public. All are taken on approval – the Alsatian guard dogs for three weeks and specialists for three months. If they are found not to be suitable, they are returned to their original owners. The specialist dogs these days are Alsatians and Labradors. Although there is still the odd Bloodhound around; it must be a shock to Sherlock Holmes aficionados and Clement Freud to learn that the Army doesn’t rate them too highly. Says Mr Rossell: “I don’t think their tracking ability is any greater than the dogs we train.”
The training of arms and detection dogs takes place in “the village,” a series of spider huts removed from another Army camp nearby and re-erected by sappers. Each house is fully furnished, some with upper floors, and includes removable floorboards and a multitude of hiding places. Hide a weapon or ammunition anywhere in a house and the dog will speedily find it. For soldiers to search a house thoroughly for arms could take several hours but a dog can complete the job within twenty minutes and without the necessity for ripping up floorboards and causing unnecessary damage.
Nearby are a barn, a double-decker bus, a railway coach, complete with guard’s van and an old Heron aircraft which was fished out of the sea after a crash. All are used for search training and the barn is populated with people, sheep and goats. These animals have two roles – they train the dog to take no notice of other animals and to detect arms over smells likely to be found in a rural environment. The aim is for a fully- trained specialist dog to be able to sniff out anything from a rocket handler to a Beretta pistol and also find explosives and even equipment for manufacturing do-it- yourself bombs.
“The important thing,” says Mr Rossell, “is to train them to ignore anything else. We don’t want them coming up with old cocoa tins and that sort of thing.”
How a dog indicates when it has found something is a matter of choice – the dog’s choice. Trainers watch
for the dog’s natural indication, such as pricked ears, wagging tail or pawing at the ground and then develop this technique.
Looking after the dogs, some of which are extremely hostile to anyone they don’t know, is a group of Women’s Royal Army Corps Kennel Maids. There are about forty girl soldiers at Melton Mowbray – mostly Kennel Maids but also eight rider/grooms and five working in the animal hospital. The job satisfaction they find is self-evident; most leave only to get married.
Colonel Harry Bishop, who commands the centre, has one particularly important job. He buys all the Army’s horses. Black horses are always difficult to obtain, and he must keep the Household Cavalry fully stocked, which involves regular visits to horse breeders and sales in England and Ireland.
The site at Melton has a long association with horses, having been built 80 years ago as a stud farm. It was bought by the War Department in 1905 as a remount depot and has acres of lush green fields for grazing, a cross-country course, jumps and excellent stabling. The grazing is assisted by the Army’s least-known recruits – a herd of beef cattle. They are employed to eat the tougher type of grasses which their more fastidious equine colleagues refuse to touch!
The equestrian staff includes civilian grooms, the eight Women’s Royal Army Corp grooms who are also skilled riders, and instructor WO2 Ben Jones, who is an Olympic Gold Medallist.
Years ago, when horses were injured, they were speedily put down. But today’s modern hospital techniques can often return the injured animal to full strength. In the camp’s animal hospital, Soldier Magazine saw a horse recovering which ten years ago would never have been fully serviceable again. A Cavalry mount, it had been kicked by another horse and taken from London back to the RAVC Centre for a plate to be inserted.
The hospital boasts its own X-ray department and dogs and horses come from all over the country for treatment. Where the veterinary advice is that the condition will not clear up within a few days, the animal is sent to be healed by experts. Horses from London are also sent to Melton Mowbray during the non-ceremonial season for a breath of fresh air and a rest in the country.
Horses, of course, need to be shod and unlike thatching, hedge cutting and other rural crafts, farriery is not a dying art. The traditional village blacksmith may have gone but the great recreational use of horses has kept farriers busy. Every year the centre runs a three-day farriery competition including an open section which last year attracted sixty-eight entrants from all parts of the country.
Chief Instructor at the School of Farriery is Farrier Sergeant-Major David Symons, the only man in the British Army holding that rank. He has been shoeing
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