Working dogs bring bite to fight

Published May 31, 2007
By Sgt. Armando Monroig
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAQOUBA, Iraq -- Soldiers went 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 they searched the outskirts of Khan Bani Sa'ad, about 15 miles south of Baqouba, Iraq, May 15.

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 jumped King, a six-year-old explosives military working dog, with Staff Sgt. Dennis Browning, 21st Security Forces Squadron military working dog handler, in tow.

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

As Soldiers from Company C, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, out of Fort Hood, Texas, will tell you, they can be 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 homemade explosives that can be used against coalition forces, said Sergeant Browning.

Sergeant 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," he 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, Sergeant 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," he said with a smile to his partner King, as he patted him on his belly.

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