Explosive Detection Dogs To Be Honoured

Explosive Detection Dogs To Be Honoured

The recent deaths of Army Explosive Detection Dogs (EDD) serving in Afghanistan, who were named Razz and Merlin, will be honoured in a memorial to be erected at the School of Military Engineering in Sydney. Razz was a casualty of a Taliban Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack last week and Merlin was killed in a vehicle accident four weeks ago.

"An existing memorial at the home of the EDD, the School of Military Engineering will be expanded to incorporate and pay tribute to the hard work of the EDD. In this case the dogs have paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the safety of Australian soldiers on operations," said Major General Ash Power, Commander of Training Command Army.

The Australian Army have employed working dogs since World War One. In 1981, The Royal Australian Engineer Corps ceased training of mine detection dogs and commenced training of EDD. Since then, the explosive detection dogs have had a varied role supporting operations in the below operational environments.

EDD operational employment:

* 1993 SOMALIA (OP SOLACE)
* 1994 OP LAGOON (BOUGAINVILLE PNG)
* 1997 US PRESIDENTIAL VISIT (PORT DOUGLAS)
* 1998 EXPO 88 (BRISBANE)
* 1999 EAST TIMOR "OP STABILISE"/ VCP's- WEAPON CACHE HIDES
* 2000 SYDNEY OLYMPICS (OP GOLD)
* 2002 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
* 2003 SOLOMON ISLANDS WEAPONS AND EXPLOSIVES (OP ANODE)
* 2003 Rugby World Cup (OP Scrummage)
* 2006 COMMONWEALTH GAMES MELBOURNE (OP ACCOLYTE)
* 2005 Current AFGANISTAN WEAPONS AND IEDs (OP SLIPPER)

It takes 19 weeks of training to qualify an explosive detection dog and 15 weeks of training to qualify a handler at the School of Military Engineering.

ENDS

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