Page 424 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Taurus, which sat in the middle of nowhere but, importantly, was only five miles from the Iraqi frontier. Taurus held twenty five thousand litres of fuel, stored in rubber ‘bladders’ on the main supply route into Iraq – the last fuelling point prior to crossing the border for all combat troops. It was deemed a high threat target, and so a priority assignment for handlers with Protection dogs. Initially, handlers spent five days at a time at the location and then, as personnel numbers increased in the Dog Section, the rotation extended to ten days, at the BFI, rotating with others from the soon to be established Dog Section at Umm Qasr Port.
The weather was less than kind for the newly positioned handlers at the BFI. Sand storms, sometimes called ‘haboobs’, were unrelenting. One storm threw up a solid wall of dust and sand that was so intense it completely smothered the dog kennels in several feet of sand. Handlers had to act quickly to relocate the dogs who were suffering from the fine grit which caked around their eyes gluing their lids together. After the storm, came the job of digging the kennels out of the huge drift and restoring all to normality, but before they could do that the handlers had to dig themselves out of the collapsed Bedouin style tent, that was supposed to be their safe and secure home. The violent gusts of the storm swept in and snapped the uprights suspending the tentage. Unfortunately, LCpl Blackmore suffered temporary blindness as he had loaned his ski goggles to another handler on patrol and had to be led out of the tent by his colleagues.
The handlers could no doubt have made use of the glass of port they were all given just before the war broke out. It came as a welcome relief as no other alcohol was going to be available for some time.
Just days later, LCpl Blackmore drove into Iraq with a four-tonner, complete with six other RAVC handlers. The Section was commanded by Sgt Richie Ward RAVC and attached to the 1st Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Battle Group, whose role was to set-up a Prisoner of War camp.
As soon as the camp was established, the RAVC patrolled to deter any escapees, and maintain public order when fighting broke out amongst the inmates. It wasn’t unusual for the MWDs to get so excited when they had to intervene, that they bit the less wary soldiers as they moved in to break up scuffles. Securing the prisoners was the job, tolerating the swarming flies was a full-time
7 Wikipedia.
8 Oral Testimony by Ex RAVC WO1 (RSM) David Blackmore January 2021. 9 Lt Col Lance G Foster REME MSc Thesis MWD.
hindrance – as water was poured into the dogs’ bowls flies covered the wet surfaces, and there was no deterring them.
As Sgt Ward and his small team of RAVC handlers secured the PoW camp, the remaining RAVC personnel established a new Dog Section in Umm Qasr.
Umm Qasr, a port city in southern Iraq, stands on the canalised Khawr az Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah Estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf.7 Personnel were stationed in the Umm Qasr Fire Station from where the duty Ops Room deployed the Protection dog patrols to guard this very busy port which contained hundreds of tonnes of stockpiled humanitarian aid as well as other essential military vehicles and stores. RAVC handlers were under pressure to protect the location and also to quell the aggressive crowds and looters.
Captain Hamish Denham RAVC deployed AES dog teams and very soon they were hauling in find-after-find of weapons and munitions. Captain Denham, a well-respected Officer, went far beyond the call of duty to look after the troops in his charge. For instance, on one occasion he relocated a twin-tub washing machine for troops’ use and the importance of that could not be underestimated. In the early stages of the conflict no one had access to the Mobile Bath and Laundry Units which were established later. And, as there was no need for plumbing – as the twin-tub just needed electricity and copious quantities of water to wash the handlers’ filthy combats – the verdict of everyone was that: “it was a God send for all of us.”8
At the start of Operations in Iraq, the UK used the legacy Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) from Northern Ireland. It was this ECM equipment that was ‘nicked’, as part of ‘Project NICKING’, to furnish UK troops deployed as part of Op TELIC. However, it was the speed at which the threat developed in Iraq – such as complex VHF communications equipment and long range cordless telephones – which made it different from previous Operations. Furthermore, the insurgents’ use of data logging systems, now afforded them the ability to determine capability gaps in the cover provided by the existing ECM. It was the huge potential for the exploitation of these capability gaps, by the insurgents, that required a number of Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) to address this evolving threat.9
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