Photo By Alexandra Shea | U.S. Army Sgt. Hamilton Erickson, a flight paramedic assigned to the Charlie Company,...... read more read more
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U.S. and Thai forces gathered at the Thai Military Working Dog Battalion, in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, to learn life saving techniques for military working dogs on March 12, 2025, as part of Hanuman Guardian 25.
“We are conducting a bilateral exercise with our Thai partners to build interoperability and partnership,” said Master Sgt. David Hall, 520th Military Police Detachment (Military Working Dog), Fort Shafter, Hawaii. “It has been going great. There has been a lot of exchange and their dog program is catching up with ours as they build on it. They have slightly different ways of training their dogs but we are all getting to the same end product.”
Hanuman Guarding is a bilateral training exercise for U.S. and Royal Thai military elements to increase interoperability and increase readiness in the event of an Asian-Pacific theater conflict.
U.S. Army Sgt. Brenna Young, an animal care specialist assigned to the 1st Special Forces Group, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, started the morning by teaching basic life saving techniques for combat injured K9 through the use of tourniquets and call for an air medical evacuation, more commonly known as a 9 Line MEDEVAC. Young said that the training “is going great.”
At the conclusion of the classroom training, a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation, General Support Battalion from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, landed in the adjoining training field to give hands-on training to hoist an injured K9 and handler.
Each handler became familiar with the K9 hoist harness and handler hoisting jacket. Once the Thai handlers felt comfortable, the helicopter turned on the aircraft’s rotor system and simulated a rescue of dogs and handlers.
According to U.S. Army Sgt. Scott Kokjohn, 520th Military Working Dog Detachment, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the experience of hoist training, rotor wash and fuel smells would be the first for some of the working dogs both U.S. and Thai.
Some of the K9s were hesitant to approach the aircraft once the rotors started, but instead were kept in close proximity to become familiar with the sounds and smells for continued training.
“We had classroom training in the morning and switched to applying it in the evening. Learning about the hoist system and jacket system was good training.” said Thai Cadet Jirayu Hongnoi, Royal Breeding, Training and K9 Center, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. “I see this training as beneficial. Seeing the benefits of the U.S. equipment, shows we may need this equipment in the future.”
Though Hanuman Guardian 25 just began, several of the U.S. forces are looking forward to the continued training with their major non-Nato allied counterparts.
“I am looking forward to tomorrow’s tracking and trailing,” Kokjohn said. “The Army is starting to experiment with tracking and trailing. The Thai do (tracking and trailing) a lot, and I am really excited to see what techniques they use.”
Tracking and tailing is the ability of military working dogs to smell an area a person or group has recently occupied. The K9 is able to focus on those smells and then track through an area to locate those individuals. According to Kokjohn, this technique is useful in combat to track groups of enemy combatants or to locate lost or injured friendly personnel.
At the end of the training, the military working dogs were shown to their portable kennels for some well earned rest and fresh water. Interpreters remained on hand so handlers from both nations could mingle and discuss the training before ending the day.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2025 04:35 |
| Story ID: | 493076 |
| Location: | LOP BURI, TH |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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