Specially trained BATUS dogs search for enemy hazards and provide protection

By JEREMY APPEL on July 27, 2019.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel

British soldiers at CFB Suffield are in the midst of their annual Exercise Prairie Storm, but this time they’ve brought some canines from across the pond.

Pte. Erin Williams, a dog handler with the British army, came to Suffield in June specifically for the training offered at one of the world’s largest military bases.

The sheer size of the base allows for live-fire training in exercises such as Prairie Storm, which cannot be done at the smaller bases in the U.K. due to safety concerns.

Dogs essentially serve two purposes in the military – searching for hazards and providing protection from enemy combatants.

Williams’s dog – Berry – is of the former category.

“Her role is to search out ammunition, weapons explosives, and parts of explosives – like the cords and battery packs that they use,” said Williams.
Berry is trained to “sit and stare” when they’re in the vicinity of an explosive.

“I bring her out of the situation and it’s dealt with by other people,” said Williams.

The weather conditions are much warmer in southern Alberta than they are back home, so it takes some time to get used to, for both the soldier and animal, Williams said.

“We came out early so the dogs could acclimatize to the heat, but she still struggles – she needs lots of breaks and water. It’s the same as us, to be fair,” said Williams.

BATUS chief of staff Maj. Rob Moseley says the purpose of these exercises at Suffield is to prepare soldiers for battle in a variety of climes and terrains.

It’s meant to prepare the battle groups for going up against a “free-thinking, aggressive and innovative enemy force,” also known as a “peer.”

There’s been a shift in the preparations for war through the post-9/11 era, from battling more irregular, insurgent forces – like the Taliban in Afghanistan or various militias in Iraq – to a return to Cold War-style tensions between state actors, or “peer” enemies.

“We’re looking at an enemy that is as capable as ours,” explained Moseley. “They could potentially have better equipment than us, more equipment than us, so we need to be able to fight against that with our allies.”

This means they must prepare for an enemy that also has drones, tanks, surveillance equipment and special forces.

“That makes it a whole different ballgame from fighting what was seen historically as a less technically capable enemy,” Moseley said.

Col. Mark Ellwood, the BATUS commander, describes the base as “1,700 square kilometre of playground” for his troops to train in.

“We train them for readiness – to be prepared to deploy anywhere in the world for any threat,” he said.

Ellwood says there’s definitely an element of comradely competition in the simulated battles.

“We build them up through the first three weeks, where we break the battle group into its constituent parts, we train them up in skills and drills,” he said.

As in sports, the goal of each team’s commander is to emerge victorious.
“There’s no better training than to have this freedom of movement we have here on the prairie to allow free-thinking commanders to fight each other toe-to-toe,” said Ellwood. “It’s the most realistic way of fighting.”

The British Army Training Unit – Suffield has been training in Alberta since 1971, the result of a memorandum of understanding between the Canadian and U.K. governments.

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