Photo By L.A. Shively | Jack decked out in his Doggles, Kevlar and mitt-muffs in front of a U.S. Army...... read more read more
PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- “Good guys 14, bad guys zero,” wrote Jon Harris in a recent “Dispatch from Downrange,” published in the Gonzales Cannon, describing a failed attack where insurgents tried to penetrate a small base adjacent to his in eastern Afghanistan.
Harris wrote that the assault began when a vehicle exploded at the front gate followed by a ground offensive that kept coalition forces busy far into the night.
“Several (insurgents) wore suicide vests that worked properly,” he noted wryly.
Security was doubled at his base and teams were prepared to assist, but the strike was over in a few hours. None of the insurgents survived and the good guys went unscathed.
A civilian battling the war on terrorism, Harris currently serves as a patrol and narcotic detection dog handler at Forward Operating Base Sharana, in Paktika Provice, Eastern Afghanistan. Partnered with Jack, a 4-year-old German Shepherd, they guard the FOB and hunt for illicit drugs alongside military dog teams.
Harris shares stories of his mission in Afghanistan with his community through his column. His connection to Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston is through his wife, Dr. Katherine Harris, who serves as the customer service officer for the 502nd Mission Support Group-Fort Sam Houston Interactive Customer Evaluation system.
Recently appointed as site lead at Sharana, Harris liaisons between the Army and his employer, trains and supervises five detection teams, and is kennel master. He is responsible for all administrative duties and reports, as well as finding narcotics and providing security to the base.
He said it can get chaotic with long days and even longer nights, but his background has prepared him well for the austere, risky environment.
A SWAT team sniper, hostage negotiator and undercover cop with Harris County, Texas, for 12 years, he left the force to enlist with the U.S. Army military police. In the Army, Harris specialized in intelligence gathering and learned Russian and German.
He served as the senior noncommissioned officer at Checkpoint Alpha, an historic crossing between Berlin, Germany, and the West. He also served as the rear detachment commander for deployed military police during Desert Storm and chief of criminal investigations at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
In 1995, Harris retired from the Army and returned to Texas where he qualified as both a drug and explosive detection dog handler for the Gonzalez County constable’s office.
When the longing to deploy bit him again, Harris resigned from law enforcement, acquired a position as a contractor with a detection service and left for Afghanistan last year.
He said his work with the dogs is therapeutic.
“I suffered from (post-traumatic stress disorder) after a bad incident as a police officer,” Harris explained.
While clocking speeders, Harris’ police cruiser was hit on the driver’s side by a vehicle traveling an estimated 80 miles per hour. Harris said he never saw it coming.
The impact totaled the cruiser, injuring Harris and his canine partner Buddy. But Harris feels that it was Buddy who saved his life – the kennel and its infrastructure kept the vehicle from collapsing onto its occupants during the crash.
“From then on I simply didn't want to work without a dog,” Harris said. He took his passion for working with canines to Afghanistan to serve the nation.
If there are no security alerts, a typical day at Sharana begins with an early morning routine between partners. Harris is awakened when Jack drops his Kong toy on his head, letting him know it’s time to get up.
“Jack is somewhat of a goof,” Harris said. “He would play with his water bucket by turning it over and wearing it on his head, while running around inside the kennel. Funniest thing I ever saw.”
Spinning inside the kennel injured Jack’s tail, so Harris decided to keep his partner in the room with him. It’s been a win-win arrangement for both Harris said.
Working with Jack may be fun in some respects, but there is always inherent danger with the job, so detection training is constant. Finding hidden drugs in cargo and vehicles is extremely exacting Harris said. Thousands of vehicles are searched each month across the FOBs.
“The handler has to be able to recognize when (his dog) is on odor, not chasing that last cat that walked that way,” Harris said. “You are a team and are tested and certified as such.”
Traveling as a team, Jack even looks like a Soldier in his own gear: a Kevlar vest, Doggles (canine eye goggles) and mutt-muffs (canine ear muffs).
“Military flights don't tend to be very quiet, and a dog’s hearing is so acute that I want to protect it,” Harris said.
Jack was not Harris’ first dog in Afghanistan. He was originally partnered with another German Shephard, Uzo, who had been in country for four years.
“If you count it in dog years, he had been fighting the Taliban for 28 before he was assigned to me,” Harris said. “The many, many searches were taking a toll.”
Uzo was retired and eventually adopted by a family with two special needs children. Buddy, Harris’ police dog, lives with Katherine at their home in Harwood, Texas.
Though Harris has been in Afghanistan for one year, he extended for another. He said working with Jack is helping him recover from his accident while a police officer.
“I hate being away from my wife of 30 years, but I love being with the dogs,” Harris said. “Yes, my life has gone to the dogs.”
| Date Taken: | 08.16.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.16.2012 18:47 |
| Story ID: | 93372 |
| Location: | PAKTIKA PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 280 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Civilians answering the call: Gone to the dogs in Afghanistan, by L.A. Shively, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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