Page 42 - Chiron Calling Autum 2021/Spring 2022

Ex CHIRON SUBSIDIUM
by Lt Emily Taylor RAVC
For two weeks in September, members of 101 Military Working Dog (Reserve)
Squadron were lucky enough to come together for their Annual Continuous Training (ACT) camp. With all the planning and hard work completed by the permanent staff, the Reserve Officers and Soldiers were looking forward to 16 days of developing their green skills, dog handling ability and learning some new veterinary skills, before testing themselves on the challenging
final exercise. The ACT was based initially from a farm on STANTA training ground in Thetford before moving to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) for the exercise phase.
The initial teaching phase was structured as three blocks of three days training in each of BCS, veterinary skills and dog handling. As a Veterinary Officer (VO), I was mostly involved in the teaching of the vet lessons, however, I luckily wasn’t the only VO on camp, so
we were able to share the teaching and get out and about to see the other training taking place. As a Troop Commander, this was really useful. It gave me time to get to know my soldiers and see exactly what they were being taught. It
also gave the troops time to get to know each other and start bonding as a Section. For Reservists, the time spent training together can be limited and often you can end up working with different people each time you attend training. It didn’t take long for the Sections to build the camaraderie and friendships required for those long days with little sleep. It also didn’t take long for the inter Section competition to start building!
We were lucky enough to have the use of K9-Hero for the veterinary teaching phase, a dog simulation model that can
delivery of IV fluids and bandaging, including some realistic bleeding wounds therefore limiting the ‘death by PowerPoint’ approach! We were then able to incorporate these vet skills into some patrols, allowing the troops to practice their new abilities in a more tactical environment.
With the assistance of some of the team from the Training Wing, the delivery of the Battle Craft Syllabus (BCS) phase was a great success. Troops were able to revise basic green skills such as harbour drills and section attacks, while also learning some more advanced
patrolling formations.
The BCS phase also allowed
the Section Commanders
to deliver some lessons to
their Sections, helping develop their confidence and leadership
abilities. It also provided good revision for the VOs!
We were lucky enough to be provided with 6 dogs from each 102 and 104 MWD Sqn which allowed each dog handler on camp to spend
replicate canine
casualties. This
was utilised
through the
support of one
of the regular
Veterinary
Technicians,
Pte Gemma
Riley. Both the
K9-Hero, and
Pte Riley proved indispensable in the teaching phase, allowing us to set up realistic scenarios for the dog handlers to learn from. We were able to teach more practical skills such as placing catheters,
We were lucky enough to have the use of K9-Hero for the veterinary teaching phase, a dog simulation model that can replicate canine casualties
40 / Chiron Calling