Page 451 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
across Defence. There was also a need to review and refine the MWD Support Units’ organisation in the overarching study.
There was an overriding logic to the collation of the existing MWD Sp Units at a single location on the grounds of improved financial, training, and operational efficiencies. All the MWD Sp Units were, at this point in time, operating to different Chains of Command, (under differing Operational Command of their respective Logistic Brigades), which increased the complexity of co-ordinating this niche capability.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) MWD Capability Review was conducted in 2007 and identified eight separate Courses of Action for development and a number of shortfalls. Although not endorsed by Defence Joint Capability (DJt Cap) the report identified a significant capability gap in the lack of overarching Defence policy, doctrine and Tactics Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) for MWDs.6
Following the publication of the MWD Capability Review, an additional uplift of one hundred and fifty personnel was proposed and fully endorsed,7 and it was also proposed that an Army MWD Regiment be constituted by the amalgamation of the existing MWD Support Units, in order to increase the deployabilty of MWDs.8
The MWD policy, doctrine and capability development at this time was deemed immature. The Future Army Structures Next Steps Combat Service Support (FAS NS CSS) Paper and supporting documentation9 sought the appropriate attribution in Defence Planning Directives and a significant uplift in MWD capability.10 It was established in the Submission that:
“The most effective way to provide the responsive and robust C2 and single point of advice necessary to meet the demands of operations and the subordinate MWD Sqn structures is the creation of a MWD Regt placed under command of Theatre Troops.” 11
The Afghanistan campaign saw a huge surge and success in the operational demand for MWDs and that demand grew exponentially; from 2009 the RAVC increased in size by 500%.
At the same time the Army’s enhancement of Counter Improvised Explosive Device
(C-IED) capabilities, as part of Op ENTIRETY, commenced.12 In January 2010 Op ENTIRETY sought to optimise Land Forces (LF) across the Defence Lines of Development (DLoD) to meet the demands of Operations in Afghanistan, this at the same time as IEDs accounted for approx- imately 75% of casualties on Op HERRICK. In response, the Army developed a C-IED Task Force capability consisting of enhanced: Royal Engineer (RE) and Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams, Weapons Intel- ligence Specialists (WIS), Military Working Dogs (MWDs), Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) and Intelligence Exploitation (IXP) specialists.
A snap shot of the overall RAVC workforce as 16th July 2010 is provided below:
Officer 36 43
WO13 3
WO27 10 SSgt 14 15 Sgt 27 38 Cpl 45 65 LCpl 86 99 Pte 139 114
Within the Op ENTIRETY’s C-IED TF project the following structural changes occurred between late 2009 and 2011: 1st Military Working Dog Regiment (Royal Army Veterinary Corps) (1 MWD Regt) was created with an RHQ in Sennelager as part of 29 Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Search Group (29 EOD & Search Gp). 1 MWD Regt took command of all of the Army’s MWD squadrons. The RHQ initially was too small and was to be expanded to the Full Operating Capability (FOC) recommended by HQ DAVRS in the Liability Attribution Tribunal (LAT) 2009 submission, this has been supported by the chain of command as a PR10 proposal13 and needed to be delivered.
Rank
Corps Manning
Corps Liability
Total Officer
36
43
Total Soldier
321
344
Total Corps
357
387
6 DSTL Report, MWD Capability Review, dated 8th August 2007.
7 DjtCapFP/CBRN/21/1/1MWD Review Stakeholders Meeting 23rd and 25th January 2007.
8 DjtCapFP/CBRN/21/1/1 dated 24th April 2007.
9 FAS NS Stage 2 Combat Service Support, APRC Submission, Revision dated 16th July 2009.and FAS NS Stage 2 Combat Service Support, Military Work-
ing Dogs Supporting Paper, dated 20th July 2009.
10 The Paper seeks APRC approval for a MWD establishment of 575 with an increased liability of 310 posts.
11 FAS NS Stage 2 Combat Service Support, APRC Submission, Revision dated 16th July 2009.
12 Army Briefing Note Serial No: 02/10 Source: HQ LF Dated: 21st January 2010.
13 LAT 09 enhancement to bring 112 lifed liability LAND MWD posts into core included the establishment of a supporting headquarters of 19 posts: (CO; Regt
2IC; UWO/RCMO; MTO; RSO; Adjt; Ops Offr; Trg Offr; QM; RAO; RSM; Trg WO; RAOWO; RQMS; FSA; MT Sgt; UET SNCO; Fin Clk; Regt Clk).
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