Sapper Darren Smith and EDD Herbie, KIA June 7 2010, Mirabad Valley, Afghanistan (picture supplied by Department of Defence)
Australia’s brave four-legged soldiers have been honoured with the inaugural Military Working Dog Day.
The explosive detection dogs and their security and contraband-sniffing canine companions were feted at a ceremony at the RAAF base in Amberley, Queensland, today.
The Australian Defence Force Trackers and War Dogs Association chose the day to commemorate the first anniversary of the deaths of Sapper Darren Smith, an Explosive Detection Dog dog handler who was killed in action in Afghanistan with his four-legged warrior, Herbie.
Also killed in the Taliban attack was Sapper Jacob Moerland, a 21-year-old explosive ordnance engineer who had been in the army three years and was engaged to be married.
Sapper Smith – Smitty to his mates – was killed when the Taliban detonated by remote control an improvised explosive device that Herbie had detected. The patrol was en route to Camp Holland, where the Australian forces are based in Tarin Kowt.
Sapper Jacob Moerland, killed by an IED in the Mirabad Valley, Oruzgan, June 7, 2010 (picture supplied by Dept of Defence)
The ADFTWDA hopes the Military Working Dog Day, which has been endorsed by the chief of the ADF, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, will become an annual event. It was hosted today by Wing Commander Iain Carty.
The tragic deaths of Sappers Smith, who, at 26, was a happily married father of one, and Moerland marked the first double fatality in a single incident for Australian troops since the Vietnam War.
Five four-legged warriors have been killed in Afghanistan since they were first deployed in 2005. They are EDDs Merlin, Razz, Andy, Nova and Herbie.
Twenty six Australian Diggers have been killed in Afghanistan since the global war on terror began in 2001, the first being SAS Sergeant Andrew Russell, who died when his vehicle struck a land mine in Helmand Province in 2002.
An Australian rifleman serving with the British forces has also been killed.
Lest we forget.
