Selected Service members work with furry friends

Photo By Spc. Karla Elliott | Staff Sgt. Bronco, a patrol and explosives detection dog, trains to be prepared for his next mission as his handler, Sgt. Daniel Fulton, with 148th Military Police Detachment out of Fort Carson, Colo., commands him to stop at Forward Operating Base Diamondback located in Mosul, Iraq, June 24. In the blue training bite jacket, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kimes, another dog handler, with 67th Engineer Canine Company from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., volunteers himself so that Bronco's handler can properly train with him.  

MOSUL, IRAQ

06.25.2008

Story by Spc. Karla Elliott 

11th Public Affairs Detachment

By Spc. Karla P Rodriguez Maciel
11th Public Affairs Detachment

MOSUL, Iraq – Many brave service members serve from dawn-to-dusk, day-in and day-out, thousands of miles away from their homes, in order to protect our country's freedom. Only a handful of them can proudly say that they took on this journey with man's best friend working by their side.

While thousands of dogs back in the states sit at home waiting for their owner to play with them, the K-9's in Iraq are used by the Armed Forces as working dogs. They train them to work just as hard as more than one hundred thousand service members deployed to Iraq; these furry friends don't let their talents go to waste.

Every service member plays an important role in a combat zone, the working dogs put in their fair share of important, intense work.

All branches of the U.S. military have dog handlers who live with and train them, day in and day out. For six service members and their working friends, in Forward Operating Base Diamondback, Mosul, Iraq, this isn't any different.

"During the day, if we're not out on a mission, we usually put them in their kennels so they can walk around and not have to stand by us at all time," said Staff Sgt. Kerina Ward, with the 97th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Riley, Kan. "But at night, most of us sleep with our dogs."

All working dogs are taken good care of in Iraq explained Sgt. Daniel Fulton with 148th Military Police Detachment out of Fort Carson, Colo.

"They have a heater, air conditioning," he said. "It's pretty nice; they live better than we do," he continued jokingly.

Training during the blazing summer days usually takes place early in the morning when the sun has not yet heated every grain of dirt on the ground or later in the evenings when the weather drops a couple degrees and the sun isn't directly overhead.

The patrol dogs, which are used to search people and escort detainees, train on their bite work in case a suspect tries to get away. They must be alert at all times and guard their handler by using their powerful bite, if they need to.

K-9's can be dual purpose serving as a patrol and detection dog for either explosives or narcotics, but never both, Ward said. So depending on what they are there to detect is what they train on, continued Ward a native of Tucson, Ariz.

There are also specialized search dogs, which train with their handlers since day one. However, these dogs don't conduct patrols.

Because K-9's are constantly training, they are always mission ready. While some are used to detect narcotics, others are used during patrols to find improvised explosive devices or weapons.

"All of the dogs we have that are used to find explosives have found at least one cache, in country," Ward said.

Since these individual teams have arrived in Mosul, they have found many caches and other explosive finds.

"A dog has the ability to smell something like one hundred times more than a human can," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Raymond, out of Norfolk, Va. "So when we go through and clear out a building, a lot of times, if something is hidden, the dog can smell it out."

While the patrol and detection dogs work side-by-side with their handlers on a leash, the specialized search dogs work best on their own, leash-free and away from their handlers, in order to thoroughly search an area, said Staff Sgt. Aaron Kimes a Houston native, with the 67th Engineer Canine Company out of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

But all of this hard work doesn't go unnoticed.

"We take real good care of (our dogs)," Fulton said. "We play with them a lot; that's what it's all about!"

"When our dogs find weapons and explosive that would have otherwise been used against us, it is very rewarding," said Raymond a native of Clearwater, Fla. "That's why I love my job, besides getting a best friend out of the deal!"

Canine handlers and their furry, hard-working friends come together on a daily basis with others in the fight against the insurgents by detecting threats that compromised the safety of coalition forces.

• Date Taken: 06.25.2008
• Date Posted: 06.25.2008 07:34
• Story ID: 20831
• Location: MOSUL, IQ