Page 9 - Chiron Spring 2020

After that we began room searching, then progressed to vehicle, route, compound, rummage, exterior and area searching.
During the latter parts of the course disaster struck within the training school. Some dogs had contracted Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). Due to the kennels the dogs are housed in the virus spread like wildfire. There was no segregation or quarantine facilities set up within the school, so all dogs were not allowed out from their kennels for a long period of time. With 4 dogs per kennel it was only a matter of time before one of our course dogs would be struck with the virus. Unfortunately, this became a reality for one of our dogs MWD Pasta, who succumbed to the virus 2 weeks before the end and passed away.
Excluding the CDV, which gave the UK team major disruptions to the MWD training, it turned out to be a successful course. Since the dogs have finished their training 8 out of the 13 have gone onto operational roles, 1 was re-classified to protection and the remaining are waiting to be deployed.
The deployment on HALLEX 19-1 saw a change in personnel with Cpl Wolstencroft and LCpl Gregory both from 102 MWD Sqn deploying with me in August. After the week of mandatory RSOI training, we were down to business as usual. We were given 35 MWDs to select from and with no students in attendance until the follow the week, we conducted a week’s selection picking the best dogs with the desired
drives for search. We ended up picking 15 dogs with a total of 12 students for the 12-week course.
During the first 2 weeks of the course we were informed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be conducting a Royal tour of Pakistan in the latter part of October and they would visit the new K9 centre and the UK training team. Still working out of the old training school in Rawalpindi, we had to get 5 handlers and 5 dogs up to the new school 2 weeks prior to the visit, so they could not only continue their AES training, but run through the rehearsals when called upon. Cpl Wolstencroft spent 2 weeks training them and their dogs whilst LCpl Gregory
On the day of the visit every handler and dog performed better than expected
remained at the old school with 7 students and I moved between each school on a day to day basis.
On the day of the visit every handler and dog performed better than expected. The other instructors and I all had a briefing part to give to the Royals, who seemed loaded with questions and genuinely interested in what we were teaching and achieving in such a small amount of time. After the event, everyone involved in the demonstration came together to have a
Sgt Wolfe having a selfie with the students from 18-2
photo taken with the Royal couple.
Op HALLEX 19-1 was another great success, with some excellent dogs coming through their training in such a short time. With a new Commander in charge, Col Tariq and with the use of the new training school our training and development of what we teach the PAK MIL can only improve over time. Anyone given the opportunity to deploy on HALLEX should seize it. Working in such a diverse country and unique working environment can be very challenging, but if you can succeed
here you can succeed anywhere.
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