A MILITARY dog handler from Welshpool uncovered a huge bomb while searching a dirt track in northern Helmand.
Lance Corporal Darren Evans, 28, and his dog, Oslo, were called out to the dirt track to search the area two weeks ago after an Afghan National Army patrol reported seeing a bit of wire coming out of the ground.
A robot had been sent along the track, but had found nothing leading the team to almost turn back to base. They eventually decided to send Oslo down the narrow track just to be safe.
Twenty-five metres into his search, Oslo found something.
“It must have only taken a minute, maybe two, for him to find it, mark it and come back when I called him, but it felt a lot longer,” explained the former Welshpool High School pupil.
“It is very quiet when he goes out. I think because you are that focused on the dog that you don’t notice anything else. Every time he sniffs something for longer than a previous area you are wondering if he has found something.
“Initially I was bit nervous in case anything happened. With all the training the working dogs go through you know he isn’t going to miss anything, but you never know what is going to happen.
“It’s still your boy you are sending out.”
Oslo, a Belgian Shepherd, is of the same litter as Obama, whose handler, Sgt Kaye Wilson, was made an MBE for her work with Obama earlier this year clearing a previously un-passable four kilometre stretch of road of IEDs.
“Part of you is hoping there is nothing there because it makes it safer for everybody and they don’t have to try to deal with the device, but at the same time you are also really proud of him when he finds something.”
On this occasion Oslo had found a low metal content pressure plate – designed to miss detection by the army’s metal detectors – which was connected to a 20 kilogramme explosive charge.
On average a five kilogramme device is enough to cause amputation and possibly death to a soldier on a foot patrol. A bomb of this size could have maimed and killed numerous soldiers, or potentially damaged a vehicle full of soldiers.
“It does make you feel like you have made a difference when you find a device. If Oslo hadn’t found it then someone could have stepped on it, so I was very proud of him and he was happy to get his toy – which is his reward. It’s all he wants!”
Darren typically spends two hours a day training Oslo, who is four years old, to keep his searching skills up to date, and returns with him to Camp Bastion every four to six weeks for further testing and training to ensure there is no skill fade.
Despite their clear bond however, Darren who serves with 102 Squadron, 1 Military Working Dog Regiment, is conscious that when he leaves Afghanistan in three months Oslo will remain to continue searching.
“I would like for him to come back with me, but he is a good dog so there is a strong possibility that he will stay out here for another handler and hopefully find more bombs.
“The guys have confidence in Oslo, they’ve seen him work and he is a really good dog,” he said.