Dog 777 goes to war

Press, 20 March 1982, Page 16

Dog 777 goes to war

Rats: The Story of a Dog Soldier. By Max Halstock. Gollancz, 1981. 119 pp. Illustrations. $17.50. (Reviewed by Lorna Buchanan) Rats was a small mongrel dog who attached himself to the British Army in Northern Ireland for several years. He was wounded in action, was decorated, and received so much publicity that fears were held for his safety. The old soldier has been pensioned off to a safe home in Kent and this book is a record of the way his military colleagues remember him. Rats was more than a mascot. His greatest service was to help preserve sanity and a sens? of humour among young troops who were hard pressed in the midst of a miserable war. He is remembered by several lonely lads as “the only friendly being in Ireland.” Several explanations are given for his name. The most attractive is the suggestion that it was short for “Rations” because he ate everything. Once he and the soldiers had befriended each other, Rats seemed to see himself as a member of the British Army. He set himself a rigorous schedule of duties, which

eventually exhausted him. He developed a passion for riding in vehicles, especially helicopters. Rats seems to'have appeared first in 1978 at Crossmaglen in County Armagh. He developed a taste for patrolling and was treated as a lucky dog who helped to save lives. He was given a jacket in regimental colours, awarded two medals, and received the lucky number D777.' Although many of the recollections of Rats are similar, the book does not seem repetitive. As the soldiers describe him, Rats had a powerful personality and considerable intelligence. His habits and looks left much to be desired, but when he was wounded in a bomb blast he was attended by army medics and nursed back to health. In the course of describing the doings of Rats, the book manages to give an unusual insight into military life in Northern Ireland. The story is told without bias or undue attention to violence. The soldiers' attitude emerges as that of men “sent to keep law’ and order, having a job to do and doing it." Rats brought more than a. little cheer to some engaged in a grim task.