VETERANS, well-wishers, soldiers and families turned out to pay tribute to servicemen and women at Armed Forces Day events across the county.

Cotswold Wildlife Park and nearby RAF Brize Norton held a weekend of events, celebrating the armed forces’ animal heroes and showcasing military working dogs to the public.

With his trained dog by his side, an RAF corporal will head out to Afghanistan next year tasked with finding road side bombs.

Corporal Karl Hicks, who is based at RAF Brize Norton, and his trusty companion black Labrador Bailey could lead patrols in the Helmand province.

It will be his first tour in the war-torn country.

They were at Cotswold Wildlife Park on Friday to mark RAF Brize Norton teaming up with the zoo.

Corporal Hicks said: “It is not the safest or the easiest job in the world.

“But, and I know this sounds strange, I am genuinely looking forward to it.”

Corporal Hicks has spent ten years in the RAF and has worked with dogs in tours of the Falklands.

In Afghanistan, his dog will be tasked with finding explosives, weapons and ammunition.

He said: “We tend to work in front of patrol groups.

“We will be out there to offer an added level of security, to hopefully find these things and prevent the guys getting injured.

“They are not used in every patrol, it depends what the patrol needs, but they are getting used a lot more recently because they are proving their worth.

“They are literally saving lives, but they are not the ultimate answer, we cannot just fill Afghanistan with hundreds of dogs.”

He said 100 per cent trust had to be put in the dogs, but, asked if putting such trust in an animal was hard, he said: “I have been doing it for a while now.”

Corporal Hicks said the dogs also provided companionship for the service personnel, who often spend weeks on end in isolated locations.

He said: “It is a comfort blanket as well.

“The guys love having the dogs out there.”

He said there were about 20 sniffer dogs working in Afghanistan at present.

Dog trainers and their animals were also at the park on Saturday as part of Armed Forces Day.

Wing Commander John Curnow said: “It was an opportunity for communities, both military and civilian, to come together.”

RAF Brize Norton has also adopted a Gambian giant pouched rat, named Clementine, for a year. The rats are used in Africa to find land mines.

Cotswold Wildlife Park has put signs up around the zoo to explain how different animals — including horses, pigeons and chickens — have been used by the military.