Okinawa, Japan. (June 4, 2022): America’s military working dogs save lives in many ways, from detecting bombs to guarding sensitive installations, but nowhere is their service more valuable than in combat.

Much as in civilian police work, military dogs and their handlers accompany foot patrols into dangerous urban environments, places where humans cannot or should not go. These skills are vital for door-to-door searches, subduing bad guys, and alerting units to danger. 

Working dogs have proven so essential to America’s combat units that the Air Force created a new course, Combat Dog Tracker, at its joint training facilities at Lackland Air Force Base.  To combat the deadly threat from improvised explosive devices (IED’s), military dogs are trained to search from the location of an IED explosion tracking the scent back to the perpetrator. The goal is to find the terrorist bomber to neutralize the threat and prevent further attacks.  This new course is expected to graduate 10 K-9 teams a year.

In this photo by Corporal Austin Weck, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal William Burkle, assigned to the 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, sweeps the area for explosive devices with his K-9 partner Bbaldur at Combat Town, Okinawa, Japan. The dogs’ unique name stems from a practice at Lackland Air Force Base of doubling the first letter of the name of every dog trained there.

America’s working dogs show the ultimate loyalty to their handlers, risking their lives alongside our armed forces around the world.  Would you consider a generous donation to Support Our Troops.org to sustain these magnificent animals by going to our secure website https://supportourtroops.org/donate today!