Page 8 - Chiron Winter 2020

Commemorating
the RAVC at Palace
Barracks – Northern
Ireland
by Chris Ham
The long established contact with the RAVC and Mr Albert D Owen MBE who designed and installed the Army Dog Unit Northern Ireland (ADU NI) Memorial in 1998 at Ballykelly, saw Albert returning to North Luffenham in the summer to restore the memorials positioned adjacent to 104 Military Working Dog Support Unit as it relocated from Northern Ireland in August 2007.
The visit by Albert and his able friend Roy, allowed much reminiscing of times in Northern Ireland, and
a long chat about Albert’s career in the Parachute Regiment and his times as a member of the Red Devils Parachuting Team. Albert now in his mid
70’s is the busy custodian of the wonderful Memorial Garden at Palace Barracks in Holywood, which
commemorates all the servicemen and woman who lost their lives in Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands conflict during 1982 and other worldwide operations since. Those of RAVC who served in Belfast will have Fond memories of ‘Palace’ and the local area no doubt!
During Albert’s visit we discussed the purchase of a metal RAVC Op BANNER Memorial bench to be sited at the Palace Barracks, and Albert true to his word as always, rapidly had the bench built and sited. I am pleased to say that the RAVC flag has also been donated to Memorial Garden and will proudly fly along with many other Regimental and Corps flags.
Ex Gaulish Dragon – 105 Military
Working Dog Squadron
02-16 October 2020
Cenzub, Sissonne, France
On 2 October 20 five members of 105 MWD Squadron (Cpl Hewitt, Cpl Parfrement,
Pte Arden, Pte Howes and Pte Williams) deployed to the Centre d’entrainement aux actions en zone urbaine (CENZUB) with 1 Royal Welsh to embark on a urban ops exercise hosted by the french 126th Infantry Regiment.
This exercise gave us the opportunity to integrate and train with 1 Royal Welsh in an urban environment with the use of Military Working Dogs. CENZUB
is the largest urban training area
in Europe and provided us with
a perfect opportunity to test our skills in close and complex combat situations. The dogs are comfortable in rural surroundings due to extensive training in the UK but this urbanised style of training gave the dogs and handlers a very different
experience. The latter stage of the exercise saw 1 Royal Welsh defend and attack different locations against the French Military and when the conflicts were in full swing the dogs and handlers really got a taste of how overwhelming urban conflict can be.
With excessive amounts of small arms fire, grenades and Warriors manoeuvring around in close proximity the dog teams adapted very well. Shifting in sections from building to building and from rural to urban environments the dog teams demonstrated exactly how diverse and capable they are in adapting to new situations.
With the Arms Explosives Search dog in the wood line searching for and finding weapon caches hidden by the enemy the Protection dogs were ready to provide assistance
to the assaulting sections. The
MWD Vinnie driving a Warrior
Pte Arden and Vinnie on a Warrior in CENZUB
Protection dogs were being used to provide cut off points when friendly forces were clearing buildings of enemy forces, this gave the soldiers peace of mind whilst inside that they wouldn’t be attacked from behind and any fleeing enemy could potentially be apprehended by the dogs.
6 / Chiron Calling