Page 60 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
CHAPTER 4
Indonesian Borneo, Belize and Brunei: Jungle Green
Map showing Borneo and surrounding countries.
For many decades, terrorists and insurgents have waged a multitude of attacks and operations against governments all over the world. Their aims vary, but most often the desired end state is a change of rule. Weapons vary too, from the very crude to the sophisticated. Acts of terrorism, such as indiscriminate bombing, torture and murder have always been commonplace. Methods to de- feat such threats have had no choice but to vary and evolve to outpace the terrorists’ tactics. In jungle warfare that pace is dictated by a climate and environment known best to the enemy but best navigated by a jungle trained Military Work- ing Dog (MWD).
INDONESIAN BORNEO
The deafening chirp of the jungle crickets, 12- hour thick, black nights, searching for water at the break of day and, as the mist clears, the all-around sound changes to the whirr of helicopters taking to the skies. Over 7,000 miles away in the UK, no one really understands why British troops are in the jungles of Borneo and Indonesia. There’s no
comprehension of the soldiers’ reality: the heat, the foot rot and the fear of walking into a deadly, silent rebel ambush. The RAVC handlers and their dogs were partners in this hostile place where hearts and minds were the only weapon.
The Counter-Insurgency Operations conducted during the Malayan Emergency (June 1948 to July 1960) and later the Indonesian Confrontation, which ran from 17th August 1964 to 11th August 1966, were different in concept, but fighting in both campaigns took place in a close country environment where the spread of dense jungle dictated that the front line was... everywhere. The reason British soldiers were in the Malayan jungle was to support the struggling new born Federation of Malaysia and, of course, to indirectly protect the strategically vital base of Singapore – the indispensable hub of British influence in the Far East.1
During the two wars that spanned the late '40s through to the late '60s, many RAVC Officers and soldiers served in the arduous jungle environment, possibly in Malaya 1948 – 1960,
1 ‘Confrontation’ by Russell Miller.
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