Page 7 - Chiron Autumn 2016

The pre-deployment training (PDT) for Op TORAL 2, which was very intense and fast paced, came as a bit of a shock to me as the frequency of overseas deployments had appeared to be on the decline. However, as I had previously deployed on Op HERRICK tours, where there was always a high operational tempo, I quickly adjusted to the intensity of this PDT.
The most dif cult challenge that we, myself, Pte Matthew Arnold and Cpl Matthew Way, came across at the very start was the Scottish dialect that accompanied the Scottish Regiment, to whom we were attached. Second battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS) were to make up the Kabul Force Protection Company (FPC) and we were going to be attached to B Company, working out of Camp Quarga in Kabul.
The PDT consisted of Exercise KABUL GUARDIAN and Exercise KABUL DAWN, which were designed to put everything 2 SCOTS had been taught into practice, mainly in a ‘round robin’ format. We were all put through various scenarios including: compound searches, route clearance, crowd control, indirect re attack and casualty drills, so this was our opportunity to show what we as dog handlers could bring to the table.
We could not have asked for a better ight over to Afghanistan; we boarded a C17 aircraft at RAF Brize Norton with nothing but us, our Military Working Dogs (MWDs) and the mail run, allowing us to get comfortable for the journey. The planned short stop in Cyprus inevitably turned into a 48 hour stay due to problems with the airframe, but we nally got on the way again and arrived safely at Camp Quarga three days later.
We quickly settled into a daily routine
and were all kept extremely busy. Pte Arnold and his Vehicle Search dog, Fraser, got up early every day to search all vehicles entering the camp and then remained on call to provide a valuable search asset throughout the remainder of the day. This allowed him to conduct continuation training and give his MWD a cool off in the pool during the afternoons. As Arms and Explosive Search (AES) dog handlers, mine and Cpl Way’s routine varied depending on ights in and out from Camp Quarga, as an AES MWD team needed to deploy out to the Helicopter Landing Site (HLS) to search it before any ights were due, giving the aircrew and the Force Protection Company some assurance before landing outside of the camp’s perimeter fence. Another routine task for us was to conduct a search of the ranges within the Afghan
National Army’s training areas, before the British Army mentors took their Afghan Of cer Cadets on the ranges. Again this provided a level of assurance prior to training taking place, and resulted in Cpl Way and his MWD Maya nding two pistol magazines.
There were four Afghan Army training exercises, which the Force Protection Company had to deploy on. On the rst day of each exercise, myself or Cpl Way as the AES handlers, deployed out with the recce party in the early hours of the morning to the training area and searched where the British military mentors conducted their training, harbour areas, sentry points and the HLS. Once these areas were searched, the main body was then given the all clear to deploy out to the training area. The remainder of the exercises were always pretty uneventful as we were just held at readiness, ‘stagging on’ with the 2 SCOTS soldiers and carrying out continuation training when an opportunity arose.
Camp Quarga itself wasn’t too shabby as our ‘home’ for six months. We had access to Wi-Fi, a decent gym, a small row of shops and the food was of a very good standard. We shared the camp with the Australian Army, so there was always a lot of competitions held between the ‘Jocks’ and the ‘Aussies’, especially when it came to rugby!
All in all it was a successful operational tour, with luckily only the odd non battle injury being sustained during basketball or rugby. As deployed MWD handlers we continued to provide an invaluable search and force protection capability, with the use of MWDs in operational environments once again proving their worth to the rest of Defence.
Operation TORAL 2, Afghanistan
By LCpl Terry Anderson, 104 Military Working Dog Squadron
Chiron Calling 7