Page 4 - Chiron Calling Spring 2017

Handover of RAVC Association Standard – Wanted New Association Standard Bearer
After many years of loyal service to the RAVC and the RAVC Association, Roger Whittle, Secretary of the Melton Branch and also the Association’s Standard Bearer has retired from this duty. A ceremony was held at the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess DAC when Roger Whittle handed over the Association Standard on to the RSM, WO1 Andy Dodds. Also in attendance was ex-Corps RSM Tam Nicol who raised the money to buy the Association
Standard while he was RSM DAC.
The Association Standard is presently laid at the DAC until a
new Association Standard Bearer has been appointed.
Anyone interested in undertaking this prestigious role to represent the RAVC and the Association should to contact the
DAC RSM, WO1 Stuart Rowles on (01664 418622)
2 CHIRON CALLING
Welcome to the Spring 2017 edition of Chiron Calling. Thanks are again due to all of our contributors and to our Regimental Secretary, Lieutenant Colonel Abby DuBaree, for making the journal such a worthwhile read.
I write this introduction with the understanding that it will be my last contribution to Chiron Calling as the Director, or Chief Veterinary Of cer. It is a sobering thought, but I am very much looking forward to retiring in June and I do so knowing that the Corps is in good heart and ready for the many challenges that lie ahead. With those challenges will also come opportunities that we are well placed to exploit.
The changes to the Army’s structure as a result
of the Army 2020 Re ne process were announced
in December 2016. It is an evolutionary process
that will be implemented over the next 10 years to complement the Better Defence Estates Strategy (BDES) announced in early November 2016. All cap badges are retained in the new structure and there is no change in the Army’s total manpower.
We have emerged relatively unscathed, and indeed, the changes to the strength and structure of the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment (Royal Army Veterinary Corps) will be of great bene t. My only disappointment is the uncertainty that the BDES has introduced into the future location of the regiment. Although the plans for the move to consolidate at North Luffenham were well advanced they are now being reviewed again. However, here to’ there may be opportunities. The proposed choices for the future location include Cottesmore and Melton Mowbray, which will ensure that the majority of our personnel will remain in the
East Midlands.
Our new Colonel Commandant, Brigadier Roly
Walker, Army Head of Strategy, was, and is, a key contributor to Army 2020 Re ne. He also led in announcing the changes and explaining the rationale behind them to the Army and Defence. It is therefore with great pleasure that we welcome Brigadier Walker to our Corps knowing that we are privileged to have got the right of cer, at the right time, to mentor and support us. His appointment was no act of serendipity. It was carefully planned and the architect of our good fortune was our retiring Colonel Commandant, General Sir James Everard. Before he left us to take over as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Sir James ensured that I was helped to
secure the future support of Brigadier Roly. We, the Corps, past and present, and myself personally, owe General Sir James our deepest gratitude for his service. A service that I know has been discreetly delivered with tact, diplomacy and great strength when required. It is a great legacy that he has left us. We wish him and his family all the best for the future, and on your behalf I offer General Sir James a warm welcome to any future Corps events.
As I retire I hope that my legacy to the Corps will be our Code of Conduct and that it will be used to inform and underpin our thinking when we balance the use of animals with their care and welfare. It is an enduring philosophy. Finally, I must close by thanking you, and emphasising what an honour it has been for me to serve the Corps and to do so shoulder to shoulder with everyone of you, past and present.
Director’s Foreword
By Colonel D A Macdonald QHVS (Douglas)
Brigadier CRV Walker DSO Colonel Commandant RAVC
Welcome to Brigadier Roly Walker as the new Colonel Commandant RAVC. Brigadier ‘Roly’ Walker (46) took up the new staff appointment of Head Strategy in the Army Headquarters in July 2015. He is responsible for developing and generating the future Army de ned in Defence Strategic Direction, managing the Army’s performance and risk against the Defence Plan, assuring the organisation and structure of the Army, and overseeing the Centre for Historical Analysis and Con ict Research.
An infantry of cer by background, he
commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1993,
was seconded to UK Special Forces in 1997,
transferred to the Grenadier Guards in 2009,
and joined the General Staff in 2011. His most recent command appointment was as Commander 12 Armoured Infantry Brigade.
His command experience covers serving in the light infantry role as a platoon commander, including two tours to Northern Ireland, and then as a battle group commander in Afghanistan. He served in the armoured infantry role as a company commander in Germany and then as a brigade commander in England. He served in the
state ceremonial/public duties role as a platoon and then battalion commander in London. He also served with UK Special Forces as a troop and then squadron commander, which included a further tour in Northern Ireland and two tours in Iraq.
On the staff he was Chief of Staff HQ 4 Armoured (later Mechanized) Brigade in Germany, Commander of the UK Special Operations Command & Control Element in Iraq, an Assistant Director Operations in London, and Chief of Staff HQ 3 (UK) Division in Bulford.
He has completed the UK’s Initial, Advanced and then Higher Command and Staff Courses, and the US joint Capstone course. He was an early member of the CDS Strategy Forum.
He is Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, and from June 2017, he will be Regimental Lieutenant Colonel, Grenadier Guards. He is also President of the UK Armed Forces Equestrian Association, as well as President of Infantry Winter Sports.
Born and brought up in Kenya, educated in England, and currently quartered in Bulford; he is married to Kate, has three daughters, and various dogs and horses.