Page 494 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
for every eventuality, say, a sudden and unplanned stop in the wilderness, invasion by little green men, you may want to reconsider something – what’s ‘nice’ to have, and what is ‘essential’ to have. What would be nice to have is a teleporter stuffed deep in a pouch just in case, but what’s essential is water. Get the idea? I personally carried as little as possible. Essentials are obvious ammo, water, snack pack, collapsible dog bowl, muzzle, med kit, radio, spare batteries, a knife, spare harness, a torch, more ammo, and more water. You’ll find out what’s good or not so good for you right after your first patrol though, trust me.
Patrolling in Afghanistan is hard, both physically and mentally; it’s hard physically because of the sheer amount of weight you are carrying around and the long hours on your feet. Patrols of six to eight hours are commonplace, and a two-hour patrol is a walk in the park. The terrain is taxing on your body. That extra few pounds you put on during pre-tour leave will vanish in a week or so of good patrolling. Patrolling is mentally hard because there’s just so much for you to do. Whilst out on patrol you will be expected to become an integral part of the Order of March. You will have your own arcs to cover, a Personal Role Radio (PRR) to constantly monitor. You’ll be looking for the enemy, trying to spot likely fire points, scanning ahead for good positions to take cover in, checking on the man behind, and keeping your dog in check. All basics I hear you say. Well just be sure to do it on every patrol, every day for your whole tour yeah! Oh, and just when you’re turning to head back in, the Taliban will contact you from multiple firing points with RPG, small arms and 107mm rockets. Not on every patrol of course, but just when you’re on your chin strap and hanging out they are sure to pop up and say “hello”, like some really bad Exercise. Only this time it’s for real. When that happens, what do you... the “specialist dog handler” do? You run around looking for your cover man, right? Wrong. Did I forget to mention you don’t get a dedicated cover man? That’s because everyone naturally covers everyone else in the patrol. What you do is get involved in the fire fight. You take your place beside the next man and do what you’re paid to do. You be a soldier. Because you’re always a soldier first, and a tradesman second. Neither I, nor anyone else can tell you how you are going to react in contact. Everyone will react differently. And all this with a dog.
A normal working day in a Forward Operating Base is anything but routine. Working and living conditions are very basic. All admin will be done by you. A lot of the time you’re fed by chefs with 10-man ration packs, but it is very common to be living off 24-hour ration packs due to lack of resupply. Washing out of a hand bowl is the norm. If you’re lucky, the normal working day will go something like this:
0700-0800 Breakfast, supplied by the chef – Hurrah!
0800-0900 Kennel routine
0900-1200 Personal admin, CT or battle prep 1200-1300 Lunch, cooked by yourself
1300-1700 Personal admin, CT or battle prep 1700-1800 Evening meal, supplied by the chef –
Hurrah!
1800-1900 Company prayers, (daily brief including
the SITREP etc.)
1900-0700 Personal admin, CT or battle prep. Sounds pretty easy, hey? But remember that all
timings will definitely have an “ish” after them. Orders will happen, normally at night. You will have the daily patrol to go on, at any random time, for probably 7hrs-ish. That’s if the enemy don’t have anything lined up for you. And don’t forget the Sanger duty you will have to do probably during the night, or the mortar or rocket attacks that will occur, or when your mortar team will fire in support of FF, keeping you wide awake. Not bad hey?
The Afghan population are generally a friendly bunch. They will gather around you when you’re static. The kids are shy to begin with, but if you start handing out sweets, you’ll never get rid of them. The older Afghans will normally stay away from you, keeping a suspicious eye on the patrol from a distance. Not because they’re all Taliban fanatics, but because they just want to know what the patrol is up to. They will be scared of your dog. All Afghan dogs are either mangy pests or fighting dogs, so a kid will naturally assume your dog is the latter. No amount of coaxing will persuade them otherwise, so don’t waste your time trying. Because of your dog, they will generally stay well clear of you anyway. Unless you start throwing your battle bennies about (Editor – Compo hard boiled sweets to us old folk). I think it’s nice to be able to converse with the locals a bit, so I learnt the basics off by heart, just to pass the time of day: “Hello, how are you?” And “don’t be scared,” are good phrases to learn.
In summary my tour of Afghanistan taught me a lot. Not only about my trade, but about myself. You need to go to Afghanistan as prepared as you can be. Learning on the job is not impossible, but it’s a very steep learning curve. Every handler in the Unit was tested at some point. All met the challenge head on. The Unit had a “Can do” work ethic and nothing was too great a job. That is so important. Everybody realises that all units will have their stronger and weaker members. But it is the strong that must help the weak, in order for the unit to prosper.
I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of my tour. The guys I worked alongside were dedicated, professional, and above all team players. Given the same set of circum- stances, the exact same people and the same hardships, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back tomorrow.
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