Page 459 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Security force soldiers who couldn’t get a word in. I even managed to have my photo taken with him on my iPhone.
So, back to walking around the Royal Courts of Justice there were men in black and white suits carrying around serving trays of food and drinks. One of them approached and asked me: “Care for a Sunday roast?” I didn’t hesitate to answer: “don’t mind if I do.” Admittedly it was the smallest Sunday roast I have ever been served in my life! Even a Barbie doll would complain. But hey, that’s “a la Carte” for you.
Moving on, we left the Royal Courts of Justice with our rather posh snack bags and travelled to the main stadium to watch the Closing Ceremony which was absolutely fantastic! The expensive seats might have added to it just a bit. I managed to get back to North Luffenham for about 0200 hrs the next day (good job it was my last day off). This certainly did top the ending of my Op OLYMPIC experience which I will always remember. Who says that life isn’t fun in the Army?21
Ops, Exercises and Bi-lateral
training opportunities
The new 1st MWD Regt quickly became involved in a variety of activities. What follows is a series of reports and personal accounts showing the range of challenges the men, women and dogs faced in their support of the wider Army and where they excelled:
Mission Rehearsal Exercise (MRX)
Ex PASHTUN LINKS, JORDAN, 102 MWD Sqn Hot, sandy and mountainous. That was our first impression of Jordan on touching down in Aqaba airport at the start of our C-IED exercise, Ex PASHTUN LINKS (2011).
We had safely arrived with thirty-four MWD and forty-two personnel from 102 MWD Sqn. Just transporting the dogs by road, air, and road again for over fourteen hours can be quite a challenge, especially when some of the journey in Jordan from the airport to the MOB was over little more than rocky tracks. However, everything ran very smoothly.
We were lucky to have a couple of days to acclimatise both ourselves and the MWDs before the Reception Staging and Onward Integration (RSOI) package kicked in. The daily temperatures averaged 37˚c, dropping to an average of 15˚c at night – although due to the large temperature drop this felt a lot colder. And it wasn’t only the temperatures that the MWDs and soldiers had to adapt to; the ground was extremely rocky and hard, and also very dusty.
During these days, the MWDs only worked for short periods of time throughout the day. By working them carefully for the first couple of days we were able to prevent any serious heat injuries, although the hard ground did cause several pad injuries and the dust caused a whole host of problems, from delayed wound healing to nose bleeds – in both the MWDs and ourselves!
Most of the MWDs we had brought from Chiron Lines in Germany were Search dogs used to locate IEDs (VOIEDs), as this was primarily a C-IED MRX. However, we also brought several Protection, Vehicle Search and AES MWDs. Each discipline worked throughout the day, on ground which is very similar to Afghanistan. We also had the expert advice of Sgt Dave Rea, Cpls Chris Bryson, Shaun Cheatham and LCpls Christopher Hibbert and Andy Hale, who all have recent Operational experience, and went out of their way to make the continuation training as realistic as possible for the MWDs and handlers.
In addition to the daily care and continuation training of the MWDs, we all completed an RSOI package. The highlights of RSOI included ground sign awareness, taught by a very knowledgeable team; and boarding a Merlin helicopter on mass with the MWDs. Although the RAF pilots and loaders appeared a little taken aback by their cargo, they were informative and the exercise was incredibly useful training for the MWDs, not to mention it allowed us to take some very Gucci pictures!!
We had a cultural visit to Petra as part of the RSOI package, which was fantastic! It certainly lives up to its name as one of the Wonders of the World. Although most of us were impressed by the way an early civilisation had produced such advanced and beautifully carved buildings, there were some amongst our group, a certain Sgt, who were more interested in the range of animals they could ride to get around the site, which included horses, donkeys, and camels!
After RSOI, we moved into the Authorisation phase. During this phase, the IED-Search dog teams became integrated within their REST (Royal Engineers Search Team) and, as a team, were tested on their skills during a route or compound search. The remaining MWDs continued their relentless force protection tasks, including vehicle search on the main gate and patrolling the Forward Operating Bases. During the authorisation period we were lucky enough to have a day’s R&R. While a number from the Sqn went diving or to try diving, seeing the wondrous marine life the Red Sea has to offer,
21 Chiron Calling dated 2012.
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