Photo By Pfc. Keegan Bailey | U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Cierra Smith, military working dog handler, Provost Marshal...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- “I knew that I wanted to be a handler at a very young age,” said U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Cierra Smith, military working dog handler, Provost Marshal Office, Security Battalion at Marine Corps Base Quantico (MCBQ).
Smith, a native of Portland, Oregon was aware of her obsession with dogs as a young child and would even go as far to ask people in her community to walk and bathe their dogs. In sixth grade she was already paving her path to her dream career.
Teachers would ask, “What do you want to do?” and she would respond, “I want to be a military officer in the K-9 unit, in the United States Marine Corps.”
While Smith is the first of her immediate family to join the Corps, her distant cousin who is also a military policeman (MP) told her she could do just that.
“The idea of being able to work with dogs I thought was just amazing,” said Smith.
Smith arrived on Marine Corps Base Quantico directly after graduating from the handler course on Sept. 11, 2020; she has been working at the MCBQ kennels just shy of 2 years.
The specialty position requires MPs to train military working dogs in patrol and detection of explosives and narcotics. MWDs are also trained to conduct a variety of tasks to include building and vehicle searches and locating and retrieving personnel.
“The fact that we can handle them [MWDs] and understand those dogs and work them…it helps being able to provide that security,” said Smith. “I can’t smell explosives, but they can, so there are things that dogs can do that humans can’t.”
Being a military working dog handler is challenging but also rewarding, especially when hard work pays off.
“When you are training for so long, and for so many hours, and you go out and you actually apply this training…and then your dog does the thing it is supposed to,” said Smith. “That’s the reward for both the handler and the dog,” she said.
The teamwork is what makes this partnership work for the dogs and handlers. As MPs and military working dog handlers, Smith and her team provide a sense of confidence and security at Marine Corps Base Quantico, to both the Marines and to their community.
“They’re [MWDs] your best friend,” said Smith. “They’re your partner; they understand you and you understand them.”
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.25.2022 11:38 |
| Story ID: | 420998 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Marines of the Crossroads: Cpl. Cierra Smith, MWD handler, by Ashley Boster, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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