Page 501 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
record all essential data relating to this sensitive and highly important project. Everyone involved was conscious of the need for evaluation. After all, this intended new role was probably the most dangerous that the Corps had ever and would ever be involved in – in terms of potential threat for the dogs, the handlers and the Engineer search teams who, if the project was successful, would employ the new classification.
The handpicked training team, under Frank Holmes’ leadership, recorded true positive – false positive; true negatives – false negatives which provided the metrics or evidence to make certain decisions; including the decision on which dogs were appropriate and which would not be suited for the dangerous tasks at a later date.
In November 2008, the temperature in Cyprus was untypically cooler than expected and although Frank Holmes was content to be training in the cooler season, he was very concerned that some dogs would only be ‘heat tested’ once they settled into the Afghan climate.
During Op HERRICK 8, they had the opportunity to work with the Danish Air Force in Kandahar. The Danes had three Malinois all trained as dual-purpose dogs and, according to Frank Holmes, they were some of the best Search dogs that he had seen in his long career. It was clear that this was the calibre of dog required to make the project a success. The Danes bred their own dogs, and this particular trio were four-five years of age and were at the optimum working ability. Fortunately, Frank’s team were given a source contact for similar high potential dogs.
“Dog Teams are such an important part of what we do. I don’t know a single EOD Member or Search Team who does not have lots of praise for the quality of dogs used during these times. In fact I’d go as far as to say the high quality of Search Dogs saved many lives.“
WO1 Steve Parker QGM RLC.
“Like it or not, the IED as a threat is here to stay. All force elements need to be capable of operating in an IED threat environment and we must ensure that dealing with the IED is not merely seen as the preserve of the specialist.”
Principle Ammunition Technician Officer (PATO) Land Forces 2009 – 2010.
January 2009 – Op HERRICK 9 – HOLMES, QUIGLEY, HAY and WATSON deployed on a C-17 to Afghanistan where they were to be assigned to Major Ben Hawkins RE OC JFEOD. Other than to house the dogs and complete some G4 issues, this bespoke Section had nothing to do with TMWDSU.
47 Trademarked dog toy, made from durable rubber by an American company.
Immediately on arrival into Bastion the team’s first task was to build a 50m lane, complete with ‘pots’ to enable the dogs to become accustomed to working on the ‘stands’ and to build-up everyone’s overall fitness – and the dogs. Very soon the next batch of handlers and dogs were going to be needed so SSgt Wes Quigley returned to Cyprus to prepare. Frank Holmes’ new role was to run the project from Bastion and get the dogs and handlers licensed ready for operations as soon as was feasible.
In February Frank Holmes returned to the UK, and from there he travelled to Toulouse in the south of France to meet a dog vendor from Permawill K9, who at the same time was hosting a guest from the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) – NPA being a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). While the other visitor was assessing a bitch, WO2 Holmes was looking at two other dogs for the UK project and decided to purchase two dogs: “Coco” a bitch and a male named “Chocolate”. Frank was then fortunate enough to see the bitch being considered by the NPA for their project. Later, Frank commented: “I’ve never seen a dog with so much concentration and drive and, of course, I wanted it.” However, the NPA had been looking for a dog like this for three months and were going to use her for breeding.
Holmes showed the NPA some of his training videos; the RAVC had adopted the same training regime of the very successful EDD Project deployed to Bosnia. These training methods had served the Corps well and proved successful so, later, Frank Holmes showed the NPA the video of the wooden stands with metal containers and pots placed in the ground. However, gauging his reaction Frank realised the NPA representative was not overly impressed.
In return, the NPA showed their training footage and opportunely offered a visit to their training centre in Sarajevo. WO2 Holmes recalls: “The very helpful NPA rep went on to explain that he too had tried everything we were doing and politely suggested that we were perhaps many years behind with our current methodologies. They were specialists in Mine Dogs and, under- standably, had more knowledge to offer.”
Wes Quigley and Frank Holmes flew to Sarajevo in March 2009 to visit the NPA training centre where they were introduced to the system that many serving Corps members will be familiar with nowadays: Searching for minute pieces of Kong47, building drive and imprinting on odour last, not first, focus walls and then scent carousels. According
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