Page 503 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
the successful capability a number of times, stipulated a requirement for at least another nine dogs (originally, he asked for twenty-two) based on the Prime Minister, David Cameron, allotting £63 million specifically to defeat the IED threat.
Lt Col Mark Morrison secured some of this funding for MWD UORs. This was sadly scaled back due to the inability to generate twenty-two HASD, but similarly there were not enough EOD teams to compliment this latest battle winning canine capability provided by the RAVC.
The first official HASD Teams to be licensed in theatre went live on 28th July 2009 on Op HERRICK 10. MWDs “Turbo” and handler Cpl Phil Miles and MWD “Bixie” and Cpl Charlie Bates undertook their first operational tasking in the Pharmacy Road area of Sangin. This area was noted to be one of the most heavily IED seeded areas of any of the British AORs. After this Operation it was judged that the GSD breed was not as suitable as the Mali to procure for this type of employment.
MWD Bixie made history as the only GSD ever to be used as a licenced HASD. MWD Turbo finished his career as an instructional dog at DEMS Bicester helping to train EOD&S personnel on the use of HASD prior to being re-homed in 2016.
Two significant events in the early deployment of the dogs on Op HERRICK 11 sold the capability to the sceptics; one was a find by MWD Chocolate and LCpl Steve Purdy of a huge amount of bomb making equipment along a shop front. This significant find hit headline news.
The second, was a find along a canal, long after the Search teams had checked; vehicles had been driving over it. On a preliminary search the dog indicated at just one metre in. The dog was adamant and on further inspection a pressure plate (PP) was found – fortunately the wire had broken, otherwise it could have resulted in a huge loss of life.
The two finds, although hugely different, proved the effectiveness of the HASD capability. These early successes lent added vital impetus to the project and added to WO2 Holmes’s own viewpoint that this new capability brought the MWD into the 21st Century and gave the Corps another capability from which others could later develop.
Ironically there were four variants of HASD, with the final version working off lead – ground scenting under direct control of the handler.
HASD proved extremely effective, and this
48 MOD News story dated 2nd February 2011. 49 Hand held VMH3CS Metal Mine Detector.
new capability provided a much higher level of assurance than the IE3D. Although it proved to be much slower, due to the methodical nature of the search, it was operated on a lengthy control line and used by the Advanced Search Teams (ASTs), when deployed to investigate high risk IED areas. HASD was able to detect and indicate mines and Victim Operated IEDs (i.e. pressure plates), at Vulnerable Points and in Vulnerable Areas in support of the RE Advanced Search Teams. It provided a very high level of assurance – that there was no presence of known and detectable IED threat scents, during a methodical search activity in an identified area. The dogs worked in high metal-content areas where metal detectors were restricted or proved time-consuming. No other means of searching provided a high assurance detect capability.
Other detection dogs being tasked at that time, were not designed or trained to deal with VOIED; 70 per cent of the areas where troops were operating in Helmand Province, contained various VOIEDs.
What follows is a first-rate example of a successful deployment of a HASD team:
Op MOSTARAK was an Afghan led initiative to assert government authority in the centre of Helmand Province and was launched in February 2010 during Op HERRICK 12. The Operation, with a combined force of 15,000 troops involved the UK and Afghan partners focussing on the areas around Nad Ali, and the Americans and their Afghan partners focussing on the Marjah region.48 A HASD indicated in the centre of the road; a searcher went forward and had an 'alarm' off the VALLON.49 After confirmation of approx. 12 inches, there was a carbon rod pressure plate with 9v battery and a 20kg charge that was blown in situ. The HASD showed interest whilst searching the shop fronts, that after investigation revealed an IED cache, 2 x LMC PPIED, 10 x Claymores, 2 x 20kg HME.
The dog was used in this type of search due to its advantage over the metal doorways, windows, and barrels. The HASD indicated in two areas parallel to each other, the searcher had a double tone on the right-hand side and confirmed an MUV switch in a cooking pot, with coiled orange det cord. ATO blew up a 40kg main charge.
Op HERRICK 9
The TMWDSU relocated from its original site, and its humble beginnings in BSN 1, to BSN 2 in early summer 2006, during Op HERRICK 9.
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