via www.af.mil
Once the training aids are discovered there is a reward -- Harris hands over a blue rubber toy. It signifies a job well done, but the reward is short lived. It's back to work for Aaron because there is one more to find before the exercise ends. He is one of four MWDs running through a battery of scenarios early in the morning here before the sun's heat becomes unbearable.
What they do is vitally important yet terribly dangerous. While seeking out explosives is deadly serious work for the handlers and dogs, their work is priceless to those they work to protect.
"Soldiers love having dogs out there, and they are an irreplaceable asset," said Turner. "When it's nature over high tech machines -- nature is going to win every time."
Turner, a handler since 2003, works training and evaluating the teams coming through Kandahar Airfield. He relies on his dog's superior smell.
"When we smell a hamburger, we smell the whole thing. The dogs can smell each component of that burger from the meat, the cheese, and the rest," he said.
Since World War II the military has embraced using dogs in a variety of combat roles, and the job of sniffing out explosives is at the heart of what the dogs can do.
Comments