Photo By Tech. Sgt. Michael Holzworth | U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Hastings, 28th Military Police Detachment Joint Base...... read more read more
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CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines -- Members of Philippine Air Force’s 773rd Canine Squadron and a joint U.S. canine training team conducted bilateral canine bite and veterinary training here, April 18, during Exercise Balikatan 2012.
Philippine and U.S. service members seized the opportunity to strengthen their longstanding military relationship and combined capabilities by honing their skills in canine handling and first aid procedures.
“Through this training we can exchange knowledge and techniques and learn new things,” said Philipinne Air Force 1st Lt. Ryan Pulmano, the officer in charge of the 773rd CS.
The morning began in an outdoor classroom where Philippine Air Force 1st Lt. James Baluyan, a veterinarian with the 773rd CS, demonstrated for U.S. service members how he cares for the more than 82 dogs, mostly Belgian Malinois, the 773rd CS has at various locations throughout the Philippines.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyle Stout and Staff Sgt. Ricky Leitzel, of the 36th Security Forces Squadron, joined U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Hastings, of the 28th Military Police Detachment, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Dugan, a member of the 736th Security Forces Squadron, for the BK12 bilateral training. Dugan is the non-commissioned officer in charge of canine operations at the U.S. Pacific Air Force Regional Training Center.
Under the supervision of Baluyan, Philippine and U.S. handlers trained in canine first aid and learned techniques on responding to a range of situations from poisoning to seizures.
“The dogs are deployed to different areas all over the Philippines, and it is important that the dog handlers know how to give first aid before they come to me,” said Baluyan.
As part of the instruction, U.S. service members demonstrated bite training as well as search, escort and field interview technique, which is the same training handlers receive when deploying to Afghanistan, and all over the world.
Hastings demonstrated with his dog Gina, a patrol certified German Shepherd, different techniques such as a long-range off-leash escort. In this instance, Gina ran out to a suspect and walked beside him or her, without a leash, waiting to attack at Hastings command until the suspect returns to the dog handler.
The handlers also put on a protective sleeve and practiced bite training with their dogs. Handlers took turns commanding their dogs to bite the sleeve and bring down a suspect. The dogs are taught to release on command and are trained on releasing their bite to prevent further damage to an already bitten suspect.
“We lift the dog up and give the proper command to prevent further damage to any muscle or tissue,” said Dugan. “It is important to work with the different dogs and keep an open mind to training because not every dog will respond to the same things.”
For Leitzel, training with Philippine working dogs was a beneficial military-to-military experience, and he said of the breeds he has trained with, “the Belgian Malinois is a great dog with a lot of drive.”
The working dogs have a busy schedule after the exercise concludes.
“Over the next year, we have more than 14 deployments all over the Philippines,” said Pulmano. “We will include some of these [combined] techniques in our training.”
| Date Taken: | 04.18.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.22.2012 14:09 |
| Story ID: | 87143 |
| Location: | CLARK AIR BASE, PH |
| Web Views: | 297 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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