AFGHANISTAN - Service members at the only Role 3 Veterinary Hospital in Afghanistan continue daily care of animals to ensure military and contract working dogs get adequate attention during their deployments.
Just like soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, MWDs and CWDs require routine and emergency medical care to complete their mission in the Afghanistan area of responsibility. To get the medical help that may be needed, they rely on the care of the Kandahar Veterinary Treatment Facility Veterinary Services Support Team.
“Our facility functions as a Role 2 and Role 3 veterinary facility,” said U.S. Army Capt. Lindsey Day, Veterinary Service Support Team officer in charge. “Our Role 2 responsibilities include routine care and emergency care of MWDs and CWDs in the Kandahar area. As a Role 3 facility, working dogs in Afghanistan that require hospitalization for more than 48 hours are [medically evacuated] to our facility for the duration of their in-theater care.”
If injuries prevent return to duty for more than two weeks, the working dogs are medically evacuated out of theater to Dog Center Europe, Day said.
“[U.S. Army] Maj. [Jodi] Sangster [veterinary clinic specialist] provides consultation and guidance for the other veterinarians in theater, and it’s her expertise that makes the [Kandahar] VTF a Role 3 facility,” Day said.
The KAF VTF stays busy, Day said, but to mitigate their workload the VTF works on an appointment basis. Their appointments are scheduled Monday through Saturday, but a vet and a technician remain at the clinic on Sundays for emergencies.
“During the week we see patients for annual exams, vaccinations, health certificates, surgeries, dental procedures, and sick call,” Sangster said. “We work as hard and as long as we need to ensure the health and well-being of our working dogs. Our job is to provide the best care we can for these dogs, and we are on call 24-7 while in theater.”
The VTF staff said they always provide the best possible care they can for their patients, but there is still a negative outlook toward the facility at times.
“Some people are just ill informed and see us only as the ‘feral animal euthanasia guys,’” Day said. “Feral animal control is an important part of the public health mission of the VTF, but it is only a small portion of the work we do.”
The continuous care of the vets and technicians at the KAF VTF ensure the four-legged military and contract counterparts working in the area of responsibility stay healthy and fit for duty.