Photo By Airman Mary Murray | U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing practice their K-9 Tactical...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Tactical Combat Casualty Care is not only useful knowledge to have amongst the armed forces, but can be life saving in dire situations in and out of the field. For the 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron, TCCC doesn’t just apply to the two-legged service members, but the four-legged ones as well.
TCCC educates and trains members on evidence-based, life-saving techniques and strategies for providing trauma care on the battlefield. Military working dog handlers must go through additional specialized K9 TCCC training to learn how to perform emergency care for their furry partners.
“Our military working dogs are a crucial asset to the mission, and obtaining that knowledge and skill to save them when they get hurt is vital,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kimberly Roberson, a military working dog handler assigned to the 354th Security Forces Squadron.
Recently, the K9 TCCC training was instructed by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jack Williams, 962nd AACS flight chief, and U.S. Army Sgt. Charles St. Denis, an animal care specialist assigned to a Fort Wainwright branch of the Veterinary Readiness Activity located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Though typically held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, this team took their knowledge and skills up to Eielson Air Force Base to teach their handlers the proper skills and techniques of K9 TCCC.
This is the first official K9 TCCC training for Eielson’s personnel. For the 354th Fighter Wing Icemen, medics and security forces, this training will meet the Comprehensive Medical Readiness Program and K9 Handler training requirements.
“We dedicated about 37 hours of effort to lock down dates, times, locations, resources, and so on, to make sure that we could make Eielson’s first official course a success,” said Williams. “With the staff, training facility, three high-fidelity manikins and training supplies it was an estimated $97,000 worth of training. We trained a total of 19 Icemen in over eight hours.”
The course itself consisted of a couple hours of training – a classroom instructed portion going over basic knowledge – then later in the day, they applied their new skills in carefully planned-out hands-on scenarios.
“The goal is to hold this course three or four times annually, but the course I taught here specifically was mostly to start building deeper partnerships between the Fort Wainwright Medical Simulation Training Center, the 354th SFS K9 handlers and the 354th Medical Group personnel,” said Williams.
Through this joint training, both JBER and Eielson teams can ensure proper care for their canines. Military working dogs play an important role in the mission by assisting handlers in law enforcement, explosive detection and other front-line professions. Keeping them healthy is an important task to ensure mission capability.
“It is detrimental that our medics and handlers are well trained to provide medical treatment to military working dogs within tactical environments,” said St. Denis. “With the surge of advanced warfare from enemy combatants, our reliance on our K9 counterparts has never been higher to excel and succeed in the mission.”
| Date Taken: | 09.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.26.2025 17:11 |
| Story ID: | 549450 |
| Location: | JBER, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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