By
Corporal Simone Liebelt
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SGT
James Kennedy, SNCO of the MWD section at RAAF Base Tindal,
is happy with his new dog obstacle course, which photographer
LAC Greg Pierce, above him, helped bring about while saving
his digital camera.
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Photo
by CPL Simone Liebelt
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PHOTOGRAPHER
Leading Aircraftman Greg Pierce reckons he would go to any length
to get a good shot – unless of course, it put his camera
in danger.
He proved this recently while trying to photograph a Military
Working Dog handling demonstration at RAAF Base Tindal.
After climbing onto one of the dog obstacles in the MWD training
yard for a better vantage point, he got himself stuck when his
leg slipped through some rotten timber. While uninjured, he was
left grasping his expensive Nikon digital camera with one hand.
MWD Section Senior NCO, Sergeant James Kennedy, was one of the
first on the scene to lend an extra hand.
“He was like a person in the water trying to keep their weapon
above the ground,” Sergeant Kennedy said. “He was hanging
on to his camera with dear life and all he could say was, ‘I
don’t want to drop the camera, it’s $4500 worth of camera’.”
Leading Aircraftman Pierce said only when he knew his camera was
safe did he think about his own predicament.
“My first instinct was to try and cushion any fall for the
camera, because I wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry,”
he said.
“Although equipment should never be considered more important
than personnel, up north we are a long way from the Nikon Service
Centre. So if there’s a choice between wearing a bruise or
damaging the camera, I would rather wear the bruise.”
He said obviously this would need to be balanced with the risk
of serious injury.
“Although I was only a little over six foot above the ground,
that was still high enough to do injury, so had I actually fallen
off, my welfare would have taken a much higher priority over the
camera,” he said. “We missed picking up on the hazard
that day, but luckily, I didn’t even get a splinter from
it.”
Following the incident, the base kindly offered to repair the
broken obstacle on behalf of Leading Aircraftman Pierce, who was
consequently back at the section the following day photographing
the damage.
Sergeant Kennedy said one of his handlers – a boilermaker
by trade – offered to make the new obstacle, along with several
others in need of replacement.
Within 10 days, seven new obstacles were built, including a hurdle,
ladder, tunnel and scaling board, which were given a bright blue
paint job, compliments of the No. 75 Squadron paint shop.
“The dogs are very much quicker now [on the new obstacles],
all thanks to Greg,” Sergeant Kennedy smiled. “He can
take all our photos in the future, just in case we need some new
gear.”
