Rutland-based military working dogs and
their handlers joined regimental comrades celebrating the end of service tours
of Afghanistan.
Soldiers and dogs from 104 Military Working
Dog Squadron (MWDS), based at St George’s Barracks, in North Luffenham, and
personnel from Melton’s Defence Animal Centre (DAC) flew to Germany for the
ceremony at Sennelager.
The highly-trained dogs and their handlers
served in Afghanistan on frontline patrol, with search dogs sniffing out
roadside bombs and searching vehicles for weapons, while others provided
protection for bases. Some of those at the celebration received their
operational service medals from Lt Gen James Everard, Commander Land Forces.
During the latest and last tour, Operation
Herrick 20, the handlers and their dogs carried out a total of 10,000 searches,
with 182 finds of weapons or explosives and 3,709 individual tasks completed.
During the seven-month tour, the 55 dogs deployed consumed 5.3 tonnes of dog
food.
Two dogs from 104 MWDS were posthumously
awarded the Dickin Medal - the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross - on
duty in Afghanistan. Theo, a springer spaniel, was awarded the Dickin Medal
after his handler Lance Corporal Liam Tasker was also killed in Afghanistan in
March, 2011. Four-year-old Labrador Sasha was awarded the same rare honour
after she was killed with her handler, Lance Corporal Kenneth Rowe, in 2008.
One soldier present at today's event became
a military dog handler after coming into contact with the search dogs at a
kennels he worked at. Pte Michael Kelly, 21, joined the Royal Army Veterinary
Corps as a handler last year after working at Kirby Kennels and Kattery(c) in
Kirby Bellars, near Melton. Many of DAC’s search dogs were boarded there while
their kennels were rebuilt. Pte Kelly, of Melton, said: “I had worked part time
at the kennels for about 18 months when some of the springers and Labradors
from the centre were temporarily re-homed there. The soldiers would deliver and
collect the dogs, and I became interested in their work. I completed an online
application, and after initial training I joined the dog training section at
the DAC.”
Pte Kelly, who recently returned from
Afghanistan, where he helped prepare the few dogs remaining in theatre for
return to the UK, added: “You could say it’s a dream come true. It was
something I wanted to do as soon as I saw the work they do. I probably wouldn’t
have done it if the dogs hadn’t been boarded there. It’s challenging but very
rewarding work, and you don’t know what to expect from one month to the next.”
A total of 345 military working dogs have
been deployed to Afghanistan since the conflict began. The eight remaining dogs
deployed at Camp Bastion are due back before Christmas.
Article Source - Leicester Mercury
