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Military working dogs bring bite to fight

  • Published
  • By Army Sgt. Armando Monroig
  • 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAQOUBA, Iraq (AFPN) --  Soldiers and Airmen go into a village hunting for insurgents and the materials they use to create car bombs, roadside bombs or suicide vests.

The troops took with them their normal weapons and equipment -- Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker vehicles, rifles and ammunition, radios.

As the convoy of Stryker vehicles pulled up to the next group of buildings to be searched, they summoned a unique weapon from their arsenal. The Stryker ramp dropped, and out jumps King, a six-year-old military working dog, with dog handler Staff Sgt. Dennis Browning in tow. King's Air Force specialty is explosives.

The military working dog team set out, ready to search for insurgents and enemy weapons.

They are an important part of any mission.

"The military working dog is a valuable asset in our eyes," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Gibson, platoon sergeant for 2nd platoon, Company C.

"We've had numerous operations down here where we've used the working dogs. He can go out, sniff and find stuff that we might have overlooked or might not even thought to look at," he said.

"Stuff" such as weapons, ammunitions, mortars, or home-made explosives that can be used against coalition forces, said sergeant Browning, a dog handler with the 21st Security Forces Squadron from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.

Browning and King were part of a village search operation with Company C, 1-12 CAB, and Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash., who recently assumed responsibility for Khan Bani Sa'ad and the surrounding areas.

Having them on the battlefield allows his unit to be more efficient, said Capt. Jason Rosenstraugh, commander of Troop B, 2-1 Cav. Regt.

"It allows us to search an area deliberately without taking a lot of time," Captain Rosenstraugh said.

It is the dogs' efficiency that can save lives, Sergeant Browning said.

"Since the dog's smell is a lot stronger than a human's, he'll find (the explosives) a lot quicker than a squad would. He's trained (to recognize) special key elements that are in all explosives, so he'll pick it up a lot quicker," Sergeant Browning said, adding that King can also sniff out hiding insurgents.

King can also switch into attack mode, if he has to.

"If he feels there is a threat to us, he'll act. He knows when he's in that situation," Sergeant Browning said.

Knowing that his dog "has his back," is comforting to Sergeant Browning.

"I trust King a lot. A lot of people do because he is a hard worker and usually I don't have to tell him what to do. He does everything on his own," he said.

As they kick off their deployment and face the long, hot summer ahead, Browning is confident they will succeed in helping Soldiers in Diyala accomplish their mission of finding insurgents and weapons caches.

Even though the Soldiers, Sergeant Browning and King didn't find anything significant this day, it was still a hard day's work for the team.

"We did pretty well today, even though it was hot -- didn't we, buddy?" Browning said with a smile to his partner King as he patted him on his belly.

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