Man’s Best Friend Plays Pivotal Role in IED Defeat

Spc. Hugo, explosive detection dog with the Tactical Explosive Detection Dog program assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team “Rakkasans,” 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), poses for a picture after a successful demonstration of the Tactical Explosive Detection Dog programs technique in finding road side bombs at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, Feb. 26, 2013. Hugo is apart of the TEDD program, which trains soldiers to work hand-in-hand with military working dogs. (U.S. photo by Spc. Brian Smith-Dutton Task Force 3/101 Public Affairs)

All the dog teams I’ve written about so far work as military working dog handlers full time. But what about those handlers who are saddled with this immense responsibility just months before deployment?

What if you were an Army infantryman, cook, truck driver, and your unit informed you one day that you would be attending dog school, and told to learn everything you could because in just a few months you will be leading combat patrols in Afghanistan with your dog?

Charged to lead combat patrols, with a dog they barely know, and a skill they recently learned- this is the Army’s Tactical Explosive Detector Dog Program…….today’s post is about them.

This isn’t my story but I do have the story on a Tactical Explosive Detector Dog Team, PFC Jeremy Wirth and his TEDD David coming soon!

Category: NewsBy Ron April 8, 2013

Author: Ron

http://www.uswardogs.com