Page 73 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Kota Tinggi road. The main offices, kennels, and pharmacy were reported as being ‘quite adequate’, but the Unit was still waiting for its lecture room and tarred square.
Despite the upheaval of a move, the Unit maintained its momentum training the dogs and handlers and celebrating the completion of the first of eleven Combat Tracker Team Courses that took place in 1965. And, if that was not enough, the Unit had to train its personnel – AVC and Malayan – to achieve their dog trainer qualifica- tions. In a feature for Soldier Magazine in 1983, the commitment of the Jungle Jocks was reflected on with huge respect:
At one point the training of handlers, for all classes of dogs from so many different regiments, plus Unit representatives from so many races and creeds, were all living and working so happily together that the United Nations flag could have been flown over the camp.
Kota Tinggi was well known to many generations of UK Soldiers past and present. It had long been a jungle warfare school, the area, many hundreds of square miles had every natural feature to make jungle training realistic; primary and secondary jungle interspaced with swamps and rivers as well as extensive open areas in the shape of rubber plantations. The live firing and close quarter battle ranges were ideal and allowed the soldiers to fire their weapons in a way they could never be used in Europe.21
After the concentrated successes experienced in 1965, the Unit experienced a series of changes. For one thing, the Unit designation changed from Thornhill Camp to Thornhill Lines. This change in 1966 was followed by the arrival of a new piece of training kit – an improvised ‘tower’ constructed mainly by SSgt Tony Rossell, aided and abetted by Captain Donald Hall-Smith RAVC. Using their creative ingenuity the men unearthed lengths of pipe which they then used to construct what some might call a ‘Heath Robinson’ type tower. The idea was to benefit the operational dogs by getting them accustomed to the sensation of being lowered in harnesses from a helicopter. A less anxious dog was a benefit to everyone in the air and on the ground.
On the training side, the Unit’s main focus continued to be instructing regimental handlers to handle Tracker and Patrol dogs. This brought in handlers from the Queen’s Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, 1 Royal Hampshire Regiment, 1 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment (RNZIR), 4 Royal Australian Regiment (RAR), 40 Royal Marine Commando, 1 SG (Scots Guards), and four Gurkha Other Ranks (GORs) who were
all under training. By late 1966, the following Regiments had personnel trained as handlers: 1 Royal Hampshires, the Green Howards, the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, 2/2 Gurkha Riffles, Royal Marine Commandos, the Queen’s Own Buffs, 1 RNZIR and 4 RAR. To save time travelling into the Ulu, Sections built permanent base camps in the training areas and the RAVC and Malay ORs also trained and worked towards their dog trainer Class, I, II and III examinations.
The End of the Conflict:
After three years of rebel action the Indonesian confrontation ended in August 1966 – and with that news the Operational Dog Section was withdrawn, disbanded and subsequently dispersed with most of the personnel returning to Melton Mowbray.
The dogs were also returned from Borneo, and after completing their quarantine the Trackers were soon back in work. In 1966 the Burmese students also returned to their homeland after spending six months at Ulu Tiram learning to train and handle Guard, Tracker and Patrol dogs. This was not a huge challenge for the students who had already served for some time in the area. Sgts Tommy and Muanna had both given ten years service when the Unit was located on the other side of the valley. In spite of the Operational Section closing, there were still other on-going commitments for personnel to meet including the task of training the remount Guard dogs for 5 Gurkha Dog Coy – and the handlers. Ironically, training operational dogs and handlers for the major units of the British Army still occupied the majority of staff time.
An interesting innovation that emerged from this time was the provision of dog escorts from the UK or BAOR by the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC). Many of the women only spent a day or maybe two away before making their return trip. Others were lucky enough to have the opportunity to don full jungle green and spend real time out in the Ulu.
The summer 1968 issue of the Corps Journal included a reflection of the soldiers’ time on tour in the heat, humidity and threat-laden jungle:
The end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, known in Singapore as Hari Raya, during spring 1968 saw the river Johore rising so high overflowing, once again, only to a depth of four feet (1.2metres) this time. The matter of Kota Tinggi being under water, rather interfered with the hectic dog training programme as all the training
21 Soldier Magazine dated May 1983 ‘Jungle Jocks.’
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