Flo Joe was a member of the Australian Army from 6th July 2006 – 10th Oct 2012. She was privately owned by Ian Moss after her service in the Army was completed, and was the beloved member and mascot of the NQ Sappers and the Thuringowa RSL.
In services Flo Joe was an Explosive Detection Dog. In retirement Flo Joe was the mascot for the North Queensland Sappers
Flo Joe will receive an Australian Animal Distinguished Service Award in a service held on War Animal Day on the 24th February 2026 at the AWM, Canberra.
Flo Joe was recruited from an animal rescue home in Townsville, Qld on 6th of July 2006 and sent to the School of Military Engineering where she successfully completed her training. She was teamed with a member of the Incident Response Regiment (Spr Z) and posted to IRR in January 2007.
In March 2007 she was deployed with Spr Z to Afghanistan in support of Reconstruction task force II, in October 2007 the pair returned to Sydney to the Special Operations Task Group.
June 2008, she and Spr Z deployed again to Afghanistan with the SOTG VII, and returned to Sydney in November that same year.
On Spr Z’s separation from the Defence Force, EDD Flo Joe was reteamed with Spr L and they deployed again in Jan 2009 to Afghanistan with SGOT X, returning home in June 2009.
In May 2010 EDD Flo Joe returned to SME and was reteamed with her Third handler Spr Ian Moss and posted to 3rd Combat Engineer Regiment in Townsville in Dec 2010.
In May 2011 she again deployed for her 4th time to Afghanistan with Mentoring Task Force III where she spent 9months, and returned home in February 2012, and back to 3 CER in March after quarantine in Sydney.
She retired from service at the age of 7 on the 10th of October 2012, after more than 6 years of service and 4 deployments.
On retirement, Flo Joe became the mascot of the North Queensland Sapper Association where she led the Association in the ANZAC Day march every ANZAC Day, and attended every gathering, meeting and event the Association held.
The Nth Qld Sappers’ home is the Thuringowa RSL, so as their mascot, Flo Joe was given the only non-human membership to the RSL. When Flo Joe died, it was diagnosed as Blood cancer, after 4 tours with constant exposure to environmental contamination, explosives and Rad Haz, we were surprised she lasted as long as she did.
In 2026, Flo Joe is receiving the Australian Animal Distinguished Service award due to her exemplary service as an Explosive Detection Dog (EDD) with over 6 years service including 4 tours of Afghanistan. Flo Joe is also credited as the first Australian EDD to find an IED, which occurred in July 2007 and no other EDD has been deployed more than Flo Joe. Whilst much of Flo Joe’s service in Afghanistan remains subject to Defence Security Clearance requirements, the details in the report from her 3rd handler, Spr Ian Moss, has been cleared for release by the Department of Defence.
Flo Joe had an illustrious start to her deployment history, being the first Australian EDD to locate an IED – and her fourth and final deployment included some finds of notoriety as detailed by her handler Spr Moss. Flo Joe found emplaced and cached IEDs, small arms weapons and ammunition, RPGs and RPG launchers, AP mines, IED Components and bomb making equipment, Mortar tube and mortars, and fuses and grenades. In her final deployment to Afghanistan, Flo Joe had the highest number of finds for the EDD section. There is no question that Flo Joe has provided invaluable service to Australia and undoubtedly reduced the insurgent ability to successfully target Australian Soldiers, Coalition Force Partners, Local Security Forces and the civilian population.
The extraordinary ability of Flo Joe to detect explosive hazards, the number of deployments and the extraordinary number of finds whilst deployed makes Flo Joe and exceptional candidate for this award.
