Photo By Damien Salas | U.S. Army Pfc. Jeremiah Davis and canine Nina from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment's...... read more read more
LANDOVER, Md. - Despite not allowing dogs on the property, an off-season FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, and the Daughters of the American Revolution Continental Memorial Hall in Washington, host canines and their handlers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment’s (The Old Guard) 947th Military Police Detachment stationed on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Members of the MP detachment routinely scour large facilities that lend their space for the purpose of training handlers and to prepare for potential life-threatening situations in the U.S. or in areas of conflict, such as Afghanistan.
“We have to be able to place our handlers and their dogs in a situation they may actually have to search,” said Sgt. 1st class Raymond Richardson, 947th MP Detachment kennel master, during training Feb. 12. “We depend on big venues like this lending their space for situational training.”
Having an area as large as FedEx Field allows multiple installations to train with narcotics and explosive detection dogs simultaneously. On Feb. 12, masters-at-arms Naval District Washington military working dog handlers stationed at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling joined the JBM-HH unit in the frigid stadium.
“We pretty much stay on the installations, but now we are starting to build up a better point-of-contact training schedule so that we can leave installations and come out to areas like this,” said Richardson. “And since we have two types of dogs, narcotics and explosives, which you can’t plant those together - the multiple levels give us the freedom to plant things for multiple trainings.”
The dogs are trained to find either narcotics or explosives - but never both - so that handlers know exactly what the dogs are alerting on. Once the substances are planted around the facility, an odor plume forms in the immediate vicinity that the dog must find through unpredictable distractions.
“Kitchens are great, because they smell like food and grease, which are good distractors for the dogs,” said Richardson. “The stadium itself is insanely large, and challenges the handlers as well, not only the dogs.”
Dogs are assigned their own handlers, and both must learn to read cues from each other. They are mandated to train a certain number of hours per week, meaning the dogs and trainers have to train every day, even on holidays.
“We have a one-handler, one-dog concept,” said Richardson. “Everyone who takes part in this loves it. This work is basic soldiering stuff - meet your hours, do your records and take care of your dog.”
In order to run a search, handlers and dogs must meet certain certification standards, according to Staff Sgt. James Durga, training noncommissioned officer in charge. Durga knows first-hand the importance of dogs maintaining high-find rates, having been deployed to Afghanistan with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division alongside his German shepherd, Xanny.
“To become certified, the dog must be able to recognize the odor, the handler must be able to read the dog recognizing the odor and the dog must respond once the substance is found,” said Durga during a Feb. 23 training at the DAR Continental Memorial Hall. “Also basic obedience – sit, down, heel, stay - and bite work for dogs that are used for patrol on top of detection.”
Dogs sent in to the field for explosive detection must maintain a 95 percent find rate, while dogs used for narcotics must maintain a 90 percent rate, he said.
Minesweeper in the desert
Durga’s experience with canine detection extends outside of high-volume, domestic venues. He returned from deployment in Afghanistan in July, where he says finding live explosives is a regular occurrence.
“Once you get boots on the ground, a liaison is waiting to push you into the various regions you will be going, said Durga. “The kennel there will pick you up and you’ll start to get the dog acclimated to the extreme temperatures. The beginning process is pretty slow. You take your dogs on a lot of walks to condition them to the area.”
After that, the kennels protocol the dogs on the specific homemade explosives (HMEs) in the area so they are familiar with the odor. Once that is done, the team goes through a validation process to check how handlers work with their dog, whether the dog recognizes the odor and generally how the team works together, he continued.
“If you have the only dog out there, you become the subject matter expert. You go in and brief everyone from first sergeant up about what your and the dog’s capabilities are,” he said. “Usually we are asked to provide a demonstration, so we carry samples with us and show how a search is conducted.”
Durga said finding a live explosive in the field for the first time is a “life-changing experience.”
“I was with the 101st, and we were surveying a village for a bed down site. We eventually found a local with a grape-drying hut, a large mud and clay structure with ventilation holes to dry out the grapes,” he said. “As I search the outside my dog, Xanny, got excited over an area. When he goes to lie to me [about finding the scent], he is slow to sit down, but when he actually finds something he does what I call his ‘little dance.’”
Once Xanny began to dance, Durga ran to the local translator embedded with the unit to let them know the dog had a positive find. Upon further inspection, they found what Xanny thought was an explosive was actually a bag of urea fertilizer.
“Our dogs train on urea nitrate, so it was a false alarm, but from that point on the unit wanted Xanny around for his talents,” said Durga. “During that deployment we found seven live explosives.”
During the last days of his deployment, a tip came from a local farmer that explosives were laid out in an empty field nearby. Once they began to search the field, pressure plates containing 45 pounds of explosives were found scattered.
“The explosive ordnance and disposal (EOD) specialist with us found engineer tape given to the farmer to mark where he saw explosives being planted a few feet from where we were standing once we found the location,” he said. “At that point, we needed to search our way out of the field to avoid setting anything off.”
Once the teams began to search, Xanny pulled Durga up a roadway, where he spotted a compound with a crow’s nest.
“My dog pulls toward rocks piled up on the side of the road, so I search the area he is in, and spot a trip wire,” said Durga. “I call over the EOD specialist with us, when he spots more engineer tape.”
Continuing up the roadway about 20 meters, Durga said Xanny’s behavior changed and he started sniffing the entire road. Looking around Durga noticed a white wire, similar to that of a lamp cord, in the crack of a wall, extending back to the compound.
“At this point we realized this must be a pretty big explosive so after a sweep for pressure plates we dug down to find an estimated 600 pounds of HME,” he said.
Exit, stage left
Canines are set to retire around the age of seven, or 49 in dog years. Most dogs are deployed several times with different handlers.
Xanny, who turns 10 this year, will find residence with one of his previous handlers in Texas.
As for Durga, his days of military dog handling are over, but his career as an MP will continue. He trains hopeful handlers in the National Capital Region, passing along the experiences he gained while in a combat zone, so the new Soldiers are prepared for detection on their home turf and abroad.
Contact staff writer Damien Salas at dsalas@dcmilitary.com.
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.04.2015 13:53 |
| Story ID: | 155921 |
| Location: | LANDOVER, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 352 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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