By Rebecca Frankel
Best Defense Chief Canine Correspondent
On January 12, a bronze plaque was unveiled in front of the kennels at Fort Belvoir bearing the facility’s new name: “Sgt. Zainah “Caye” Creamer Military Working Dog Kennels.” It was a year ago to the day that Sgt. Creamer succumbed to wounds she sustained in Afghanistan after her unit was attacked by an insurgent’s IED. She was the first “female working dog handler to be killed in action during the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.”
Sgt. Creamer and her detection dog Jofa had deployed to Afghanistan in October 2010. Their job was to search for weapons, working ahead of their unit to sweep for explosives. Jofa, who was across the road from his handler when the explosion occurred and survived the attack unscathed.