Page 528 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Military Working Dog handlers, we continued to provide an invaluable search and force protection capability, with the use of the dogs in operational environments, once again proving their worth to the rest of Defence.”86
The last RAVC teams left theatre completely on 21st December 2020 and returned to the UK on 22nd December. The Camp closed completely in late October 2020 at the end of Op TORAL 10, with 4 SCOTS. The dog teams then moved to Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) Camp just before the Relief in Place of TORAL 10 and TORAL 11 (104 MWD Sqn).
Cpl Ed SC Davis QGM RAVC
Cpl Ed Davis was awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal for his consistent, brave actions whilst serving in Afghanistan.
The citation below describes Cpl Davis’s outstanding bravery:
“Between April 2010 and October 2012, Cpl Davis spent 483 days on combat Operations in Afghanistan, employed as a specialist dog handler. During this time, he conducted one hundred and sixty-two operations, in which he identified over fifty IEDs.
Always placing the mission first, Davis demonstrated cold courage by methodically searching routes, finding and marking IEDs, and then leading men past them. In doing so he negated the enemy’s most dangerous weapon enabling British and Afghan forces to punch through the defensive screen and hurt insurgents where they felt safe.
There are several examples of his courage: Cpl Davis found and marked two IEDs on the short route from a helicopter landing site to a target compound. Soon after the compound was cleared an Afghan member of the ground force stood outside the cleared lane and triggered a pressure plate IED, causing him catastrophic injuries and wounding two British soldiers. With ears ringing and vision obscured by a cloud of debris, every member of the ground force froze, except one. Answering the cries of the wounded man calling his name, Cpl Ed Davis had already started to clear a path to the injured man before the dust had settled. Guiding the doctor and medics to the scene, and back to the emergency helicopter landing site, he found and marked two further IEDs.
In an earlier operation an 8km march took the patrol through one of the most heavily infested IED belts in Afghanistan to a position in an old Russian trench
system. Cpl Davis marked a safe lane to the objective and found a large well-concealed pressure plate IED protecting the site. His action allowed the patrol to safely occupy its position and therefore successfully complete its mission.
In the two- and half-year period Cpl Davis repeatedly placed himself at extreme personal risk. His skill and bravery in this lonely task, which usually falls to a team of explosives experts, has saved the lives and limbs of countless British soldiers and their Afghan partners. His selfless bravery is deserving of national recognition”.
Perhaps ironically...
The final MWD team members on Op TORAL 10 (102 MWD Sqn) were awarded a Chief Advisor Commendation from Brigadier JRH Timmis OBE, for their work on the tour and the support given during the close down of Camp Qargha.
Fate of the MWD in Afghanistan
After a short deployment of the 104 MWD Sqn handlers on Op TORAL 11 and following a Theatre Capability Review, a decision was announced that hit the handlers extremely hard; MWDs were no longer required in Afghanistan.
This is an excerpt from the email received:
The MWDs are indeed purple on the Operational Establishment Table V11.9. (Table shown below). The capability cut is in line with the retrograde of QAA FP Coy. This niche capability had been discussed between HQ KPU and HQ KSF. The initial thought was to retain them in theatre due to them being a niche capability, however there was found to be no requirement for them to retain. Moreover, there was a threat of picking up unwanted tasks for Partner Nations. The decision from COMBRITFOR is to retrograde this capability.
Op PITTING
August 2021
Operation PITTING was the name for the military operation of the evacuation of British Nationals and former British staff eligible for relocation under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy following the Taliban offensive. The operation was a high profile, short notice, Non-Com- batant Evacuation Operation (NEO) of entitled personnel, British nationals and eligible Afghans from HKIA in Kabul.
Operation PITTING was the largest humani-
MWD SECT COMD
Vehicle Search Handler MWD
SPEC HANDLER AES & PROT
TKPUQAAA152
TKPUQAAA153
TKPUQAAA154
01.03.02.03
01.03.02.03
01.03.02.03
NOT CE
NOT CE
NOT CE
1
1
1
86 Chiron Calling article ‘Operation TORAL 2 Afghanistan’ By LCpl Terry Anderson RAVC Autumn 2016.
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