Photo By Abigail Meyer | Ivar, a military working dog assigned to Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., alerts on a...... read more read more
Subscribe
CHIHUAHUAN DESERT – Getting sand up your nose is never fun, but military working dogs training for deployment were on a mission – find explosives – no matter how sandy the conditions. The Desert Defender Readiness Training Center at El Paso, Texas trains security forces Airmen before deployment and those with military working dogs receive additional training.
“The purpose of them coming here is to learn combat skills to utilize downrange,” said Tech. Sgt. Michael Myers, military working dog program manager, Desert Defender Readiness Training Center. “All of our instructors here have that combat experience.”
The dogs and handlers have to be able to do their jobs, in any environment. In about 90-degree heat, teams trained on roadway detection in the training area here June 10.
“We focus on roadway detection because most of the stuff we do downrange in Afghanistan and Iraq is search for IEDs (improvised explosive devices),” Myers said. “So we want to train our dogs on roadway detection specifically in this environment where there’s a lot of sand, the heat, so they get used to working with their dog tired.”
They have training classes every month and dog teams come from all over to train. This was their largest class yet, with 19 dog teams and four kennel masters.
“I try to make sure that they can recognize their dog’s change of behavior on explosives,” said Tech Sgt. Franklin Walton, K-9 instructor, who has six deployments under his belt. “I want to make sure the handlers can recognize it before the dog alerts.”
To do that, instructors sometimes place training aids in a location the handler knows, but the dog doesn’t, so the handler learns their dog’s behavior as the dog finds it.
“The dog handler and the dog have to learn how to work together. It’s a team effort. The dog cannot be doing everything by himself and the handler can’t be doing everything by himself,” said Tech. Sgt. John Whisman, K-9 instructor. “So they have to come together as a team, build that rapport, bond, foundation and obviously work as a team to find explosives.”
Senior Airman Paul Little was figuring out that teamwork piece during the training. As a new dog handler, he said he has learned a lot, some of it from his MWD Jackson.
“I’ve only been a handler just under six months,” Little said, who is assigned to the 27th Special Operations Security Forces Squadron, Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico. “Working with him is a blast. He’s an older dog; he’s going to be eight this August. He shows me more than what I show him.”
It was just day five of 27 training days for the teams here, but the Desert Defenders have already had them working hard, doing a two-mile ruck march in full gear, in the middle of the day to acclimate the dogs to the heat.
“Yesterday with the ruck he (Jackson) did really well, we only had to stop twice throughout the entire day. I thought he was going to be a little more smoked than what he was,” Little said. “He beasted through it and his nose is one of the best out here, I think, but that’s me being biased.”
Air Force dog teams do a variety of missions and many times work with Army or Special Forces units. The training course here is designed to prepare them for any deployment.
“It’s going to help them survive, but it’s also going to save them the lives of the platoon or squad that’s behind them,” Myers said. “We take the lead on most of our patrols, because we have a dog that finds explosives … saving those patrols from stepping on IEDs, helping the mission succeed.”
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.23.2016 17:44 |
| Story ID: | 202301 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 318 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Military working dogs, handlers train: Desert Defender Readiness Training Center prepares teams for skills needed downrange, by Abigail Meyer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT