Page 353 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Operational tours in Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and Afghanistan. It was while she was serving in NI that Cheryle established another first when working and living with the Drug Investigation Team (SIB/RMP) based in Lisburn for a year. A posting that was so successful that it became an established post.
On a visit to the DAC on 29th May 2002, HRH The Princess Royal presented the NATO Joint Commanders Commendation to Cpl Cheryle Garratt (as she became, following her marriage to Corporal Darren Garratt in September 2000) in recognition of her outstanding work as a Specialist Dog Handler during her Operational tour of duty in Bosnia in 2001. Cheryle, an AES handler, received her Commendation in front of her very proud parents who were to see their daughter promoted rapidly through the ranks until her departure from the Corps as a SSgt. Her last appointment was as CQMS in 104 MWD Sqn, but that was not to be her final connection with the Corps as Cheryle went on to take up an appointment with Babcock International delivering the successful Modern Apprenticeship to younger soldiers of the RAVC.
It was in 2002 that Sgt Di Jones RAVC was appointed as the first female RAVC Brigade Sgt, 39 Infantry Brigade Specialist Dog Section located at Palace Barracks, Holywood, County Down. At that time, she would have been in charge of up to twenty Specialist Dog Handlers in that location, which would deploy to and primarily operate in urban environments supporting the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) – the police force serving the Province following the demise of the RUC. Sgt Jones liaised very closely with the 1st Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders as the resident infantry battalion as well as 2nd Royal Irish who were co-located in the same barracks.25
From Horses to Dogs
Reflecting on a time when women’s passion to join the Army was not seen as a career choice, the profiles of some of the women who took every opportunity to make it their life’s work read like a master class in resilience, flexibility, and belief in the power of education and change.
Captain Sue Roberts joined the RAVC in 1995 initially training as a rider/groom following a period of work experience in dealers’ yards. She soon completed the ten-day basic dog handler course, the equine pack pony course and a fourteen-day course in animal care which equipped her to accept her first posting as a rider/groom. Alongside Heather Fraser, Viki
Allitt and Zoe Bourne, Sue’s duties included the maintenance of the Unit horses. By mid-1996 saw the introduction of numerous structural changes resulted in the demise of the rider/groom role, which was to be civilianised.
The move away from the horses re-focussed Sue’s career on the Military Working Dogs and so she re-trained at a time when opportunities for dog trainers were particularly good. Completing a three-month course under the tutelage of Sgt Alec Bates, the all-female event comprising Sue, Di Jones, Anne King, Trish Clegg and Mandy Swanwick, all of whom were dog handlers and kennel assistants, resulted in the graduation of five women dog trainers.
When Captain Richard Lyne, as OC of Equine Division at the DAC, requested Sue Roberts be returned to the stables it was to undertake the Long Equitation Course – six months in duration – making her the first female to do so. Sue graduated in April 1997, and afterwards, qualified as a Veterinary Technician following a three-month course. Her subsequent posting was as Equine Instructor at Equine Division which catered for up to 300 horses: Sue’s responsibility being, specifi- cally and typically, the difficult horses.
Only two years later, in late 1999, LCpl Roberts accepted another challenge in her deployment to Kosovo on Op AGRICOLA as part of the dog section which comprised ten RAVC personnel. Due to her qualifications, she also undertook Veterinary Technician duties on this Op tour. But on her return to the UK, she could not resist the call to return to her first love – the horses.
Her next posting, to The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment as a Lance Sergeant for two years, was a very busy assignment where, alongside Major Mark Morrison RAVC, the RVO, she was responsible for three hundred horses in the barracks. This marked off another successful part of Sue’s career and a promotion to Sergeant on her return to the DAC to be both a senior Vet Technician and horse trainer, with a responsi- bility for instructing on the Advanced Military Equine Course. Being back with the horses, gave Sgt Roberts, an accomplished horse rider, the opportunity to take part in the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 2008, where Sue and her teammates took second place receiving their prize from HM The Queen.
A posting to AMD at Camberley came with a promotion to SSgt, Staff Assistant supporting RAVC recruitment for six months – organising Potential Officers seminars, and RAVC recruit
25 Chiron Calling, Winter 2002/03.
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