Page 477 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
equipment, LCpl Smith and EDD Harry departed Cologne German Air Force Base at 0130 hrs on 7th February 2002 by civilian Antonov strategic airlift cargo transport plane to Kabul. Rather like other transport aircraft this was not simple! LCpl Smith was told to conceal her weapon in her bomb suit bag as the Russians would not let personnel fly with weapons! She had another problem – the plane’s cargo hold was not pressurised which meant Harry had to travel on the passenger deck with Pauline. “My problems didn’t end there,” recalled Pauline. “The kennel was too big for the passenger deck, so I had to carry my dog up a 30ft ladder to enter the aircraft, where the Russian pilot insisted that Harry be muzzled for the entire nine-hour journey. After I argued the point, the pilot gave in and it was finally agreed that the muzzle need only be used during take-off and landing. The entire flight was a bizarre affair right from the outset. Immediately after take-off, the all-male Russian civilian crew disappeared behind a curtain to their sleeping area, and then reappeared in their pyjamas and settled down at the table for a few games of cards! They didn’t speak any English, but they were hospitable and offered me coffee and biscuits. Harry and I slept on the guys’ seats when they went to their beds, which was fine for several hours until the men reappeared dressed and ready for landing. Once on the tarmac it became clear that this was only a brief stop in Azerbaijan to load more cargo.”
Finally landing in Kabul, on 7th February 2002 at 1120 hrs, marked the end of the four-day journey from Banja Luka, Bosnia. Harry and his handler weren’t exactly expecting a welcoming committee, but it soon became apparent that no one was expecting them at all! Once Pauline’s equipment had been unloaded from the Antonov, she requested the assistance of the German soldiers who were there collecting supplies from the aircraft, to help her to find which camp 49 Field Squadron (EOD) Royal Engineers were located in; not easy in a developing war zone! Fortunately, the Lance Corporal soon found a British Forces Ops Room where she explained the situation and where a radio operator made contact with 36 Engineer Group who promptly arrived to collect them and all their essential equipment.
First impressions remained vivid for this dog handler: “The conditions were bleak. There was no electricity or running water, and the only food was the 24hr ration packs heated up in mess tins on a Hexi burner. The accommodation was a bombed outbuilding with no windows or doors, only sandbags instead providing cover
from any attack,” and Pauline didn’t find any upgrade when she faced the ‘bathroom situation’: “The lavatory was a large trench in the ground partitioned into cubicles by sheets of MDF. It was colder than Bosnia had been and waking up that first morning in Kabul there was more snow than in the Balkans. It was the first snow in Afghanistan for many years.”
Following several O Groups, it was obvious little thought had gone into the rapid deployment of LCpl Smith. The Engineers wanted the EDD team to be operational searching for anti-tank and anti-personnel mines within three days. Despite being re-deployed from Bosnia where the team was fully operational, it was not possible for the EDD team to be trained on the Afghanistan laid mines and cluster munitions scattered widely over some areas in such an unrealistic time frame. Even after such training to accustom the EDD to the new nature of the Afghan threat, the team would need to be validated by both RAVC and RE personnel following theatre specific SOPs. Undeterred, LCpl Smith liaised closely with the German run Mine Dog Centre, a civilian enterprise funded by the German Government. Whilst the Germans were very cooperative, many of the actual mine dog handlers were Afghans, who did not speak English nor were they accustomed with working with females. Consequently, it was difficult to obtain maps of training areas, maps of mine fields and new training areas to progress training.
The weather was poor with deep snow and cold temperatures that slowed any meaningful progress. To make things worse, after the snow came heavy rain; the heaviest in five years which waterlogged the training areas. Despite this, plans were going ahead to design suitable secure kennels for Harry and any future dogs due in. The new kennels were needed urgently as protection against the plague of aggressive feral dogs that had found their way into the camp through insecure fence lines. Despite all the support and training, a decision was made that due to the Engineers only being in theatre for ninety days the team would not be quite ready to be licensed and that Harry and LCpl Smith would be returned to the UK.
However, there was one duty for her to perform before she left. On 8th March 2002 LCpl Smith was asked to represent the British Army at the International Women’s Day event in Kabul where President Hamid Karzai was speaking. This situation was as unique as the deployment itself and caused a great deal of curiosity around the concept of a female soldier.
The deployment to Afghanistan was successful
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