There are many dogs in active service around the world with our armed forces and Air Dog Buster has served his last tour of duty retiring to Lincolnshire with his handler RAF Police Sergeant Michael Barrow.
Buster, an English Springer Spaniel, joined the Military in September 2005. On completion of his training as an Armaments & Explosives Search (AES) Dog, he was posted with his handler to Rosythe in Scotland.
His duties here included high profile searches of venues, such as Edinburgh Castle in an Anti-terrorism search role.
Buster’s Campaigns
In September 2006, he deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in his first operational role.
His duties included searching for illegally held weapons and explosives within the local populous. He had a number of significant finds, thus helping to make this volatile country a safer place.
In September 2007, Buster and Sgt Barrow deployed to Afghanistan. After only a few days in theatre they were deployed into the Gereshk Valley.
During one foot patrol in which Buster was leading the search for Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), they came under attack.
Although the contact was short lived, it was extremely noisy and the smell of cordite was overwhelming. Buster remained calmly by Sgt Barrow’s side totally unfazed by the actions around him.
After the event, the patrol continued and Buster carried on his work wondering what the fuss was about.
This happened on several occasions and each time, Buster waited calmly for the action to cease and then carried on his work, leading from the front in his relentless search for IEDs, keeping the patrols safe.
Morale
During periods of inactivity, Buster would wander around the camp making as many friends as possible. Apart from doing a superb job, he was also a great source of morale for the many servicemen that had left pets behind.
On Leaving Gereshk, they teamed up with the Coldstream Guards. One of Buster’s tasks was to search the Jalalahbad road, where the threat of suicide
bombs is very real. Although a very tense situation for soldiers, Buster once again carried out his tasks with great professionalism.
On completion of the tour Buster and Sgt Barrow sadly parted company as Buster had to remain in Cyprus for a 6 month period of quarantine. Once they were reunited they immediately began training to go out to Iraq.
They deployed in March 2009 and immediately Buster was needed to ensure that the convoys leaving Basrah for Kuwait had a safe passage. This he did until the withdrawal of British Troops in May 2009.
Camp Bastion
Once again, Buster faced 6 months in Cyprus which was interrupted when one of his K9 colleagues failed to make the grade in Afghanistan. He was flown out and teamed with another handler and carried out five months searching the thousands of vehicles entering Camp Bastion.
Buster once again returned to Cyprus and finally returned to home soil in June 2010.
Buster’s Medals
Buster proudly wears a row of military campaign medals;
The blue and yellow is for Op ALTHEA and is the EUPHOR Medal for Bosnia.
The middle one Is for Op TELIC for Iraq.
The third one is for Op HERRICK for Afghanistan.
These medals are to represent where Buster has been.
Animals are not awarded military medals, so special permission was granted from the medals office for him to wear them.
RAFP Mascot
Although nine year old Buster has now retired from active service he has recently been made the RAFP mascot.
Have a long and happy retirement Buster, we are proud of you.
Buster and Charlie
Pictures courtesy of RAF Waddington