|
Across the globe, more than 88,000 men and women come together to
make up the Coast Guard workforce. Their duties are diverse – from
inspecting cargo vessels to ensure safety at sea, to patrolling
known drug transit zones to combat transnational organized criminal
networks, or ensuring safety of navigable waterways by maintaining
aids to navigation.
But there is one group within the Coast
Guard so specialized that their mission remains the same, day in and
day out, from the day they enter service to the day they retire.
Their role comes from Homeland Security Presidential Directive
19, which directs the Federal Government to prevent and protect
against the use of explosives in the U.S. by using the most
effective technologies, capabilities and search procedures to detect
explosive devices.
While the majority of those who make up
these teams are, in fact, Coast Guard men and women, some are not.
Currently, the Coast Guard employs 16 canine explosive detection
teams, which are comprised of one Coast Guard working dog and one
handler. The teams are located across the country at Coast Guard
Maritime Safety and Security Teams and the Coast Guard Maritime
Security Response Team.
It's the unique capabilities that
these detection dogs bring to the teams that make them so effective.
“When compared to mechanical methods of explosive detection,
canines are the most reliable and real time defense against acts of
terrorism,” said Lt. Craig Johnson, the canine explosive detection
team program manager at Coast Guard Headquarters. “Their specialized
capability to embark a vessel from small boats or helicopters makes
them unique in DHS.”
And just like any other member of the
Coast Guard, the K-9s begin their Coast Guard journey with a
thorough training program to ensure they are ready for the career
ahead of them.
Training: from regular pup to detection dog
Effective training lies at the center of each and every Coast
Guard program, and the K-9 program is no exception.
|
U.S. Coast Guard canine explosive detection teams are an integral
part of the Coast Guard's maritime safety and security mission. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
|
When the Coast Guard procures a working dog, they are
first sent to the Transportation Security Administration's
K-9 training center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in
San Antonio, Texas.
The facility, which is recognized
as the nation's premier K9 explosive detection training
center, provides training for local, state and federal
agencies including the Federal Protective Service, the
Secret Service, TSA, city police departments as well as the
Coast Guard.
“With the Coast Guard being another DHS
agency, the partnership is really important for us,” said
Chris Shelton, supervisory air marshal in charge at the
training center. “The partnership we have is a big benefit
for all of us.”
Before the dogs even enter the
training environment, they are screened to see where they
may fit and how they will perform.
“In the
procurement process, we look for several behavior traits
that will signify that the dog will hunt and has a desire
for some kind of prey object – a reward,” Diller said. “So
we have a predisposition that the dog will work into the
training program by the time we have the dog on the ground.”
For the Coast Guard K-9s and handlers, the training
course is a 10-week, intensive course that initiates the
bond built between the two. According to Danny Diller,
supervisor of the training support unit at the center, the
K-9s also undergo 10 to 15 weeks of pre-training, before
they are paired with the handlers.
“The full process
can run up to 25 weeks,” said Diller. “Odor imprinting is
the first step. Once we have a pretty firm consensus that
the dog is finding odor and responding to odor, then we
start introducing all the transportation environments.”
From the start of the 10 week program, the handlers are
there as well – working side by side with the K-9s they have
been paired with.
The handlers kick off their
training with a one-week classroom session that covers
everything from veterinary care and transportation logistics
to the equipment needed for both dogs and handlers. From
there, they do a follow on week of obedience training
followed by scenarios where they are taught the principles
of explosive detection work.
Then comes
certification.
“The handlers are put through the TSA
certification process by the guidelines that we use for all
our teams in the field,” Diller said. “They are graded as a
team, and they will graduate as a team.”
From there,
the handler and K-9 head out to a Coast Guard unit and form
a canine explosive detection team.
A Coast Guardsman
and his dog
A Coast Guard handler and his or her K-9
have a special bond – they work together, and at the end of
the day, they go home together. They are family.
In
fact, the dogs are matched to their handler based on this
notion. TSA's training center takes into consideration home
environment, family situation and other personal factors
when assigning a dog to a handler.
And once the
detection dogs head off to their first Coast Guard unit? The
handler will stay by their side throughout the entirety of
their career, and the detection dog heads home with the
handler each and every night.
Petty Officer 2nd Class
James Grant, a maritime enforcement specialist currently
stationed at Maritime Safety and Security Team Seattle, says
that it's the bond built between the dog and the handler
that makes the work so rewarding.
Grant, who has been
in the Coast Guard for 10 years, has been a handler for the
last two years. His partner is Coast Guard K-9 Sonya. The
two make up one of the canine explosive detection teams in
Seattle and play a crucial role in port and maritime
security for the region.
|
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class James Grant, a maritime enforcement specialist and dog handler assigned to Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101 in Seattle, and his partner Sonya, a Belgian Malinois explosives detection canine, sweep rows of parked cars at a rental car lot in SeaTac, Wash., Sept. 30, 2015. The Coast Guard canine explosives detection program enhances the detection and deterrence capabilities in the maritime environment, adjacent lands and waterside installations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Norcross)
|
Grant says Sonya is so in tune with his daily routine,
her demeanor changes based off the smallest details when she
sees him in the mornings.
“The type of uniform I'm
wearing, whether it's my operational dress uniform or my
advanced interdiction uniform...her whole demeanor changes,”
said Grant. “So if I'm in my advanced interdiction uniform,
she gets fired up and knows she's going to do some fun stuff
that day.”
“We're 24/7 on call pretty much for any
major threat,” Grant said.
Grant says that every MSST
K-9 team has different responsibilities. In Seattle, they
try to conduct at least one operation a week, and usually
conduct sweeps of the local ferries or do vehicle sweeps at
Coast Guard Base Seattle.
In addition to protecting
the port, Grant and Sonya focus their efforts on training.
While the dogs may undergo a 10-week program, the training
is more of an ongoing continuum, due to the various
environmental factors and port-specific responsibilities.
The continual training environment also allows the handler
to continually exercise the K-9 and get to know its
behaviors.
Grant even said that to an untrained eye,
it may look like the dog is responding to something that
it's really not. He said Sonya is a final response dog, so
she sits when she detects odor. So in training scenarios, if
Sonya sits, it's up to Grant to determine whether she is
sitting on explosive odor or on a different scent.
“Watching your own dog find odor is like looking at a sheet
of music – every note has to be in sync for it to sound
great,” he said. “To the handler, it's literally art.”
Being a handler and developing this relationship with a
detection dog is something Grant wouldn't trade for
anything.
“Without a doubt, I know I have the best
job in the Coast Guard,” he said.
Unlike her human
counterpart, Sonya won't have the opportunity to serve the
Coast Guard for 20 years. After about six years, the dogs
have reached the end of their working life, and are ready
for retirement.
While their work routine may change
at this point, their home life normally doesn't.
A
forever home, a forever bond.
Chief Petty Officer
Anthony Ross, a maritime enforcement specialist, worked with
his K-9, Chiquita, for nine years. In that time, they served
as canine explosive detection teams at both MSST San
Francisco and MSST Los Angeles-Long Beach.
|
U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Anthony Ross and his K-9, Chiquita. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)
|
In that time, Ross and Chiquita focused on port security
– doing sweeps of ferry and cruise ship terminals, searching
containers at regulated facilities and working alongside
port partners to keep the region safe from maritime threats.
After nine years, however, Chiquita's service came to an
end. For Ross, it was an easy decision on where she should
live out the rest of her life – he adopted her.
“She's my dog – it would be like having a dog for nine years...and
taking them to the pound,” he said. “Nobody would do that to a
regular dog, to their pet.”
For Chiquita, it wasn't
necessarily the easiest adjustment. Ross said that the day came that
he left for work...and Chiquita didn't go with him.
“She gave
me that look,” he said. “That was hard for both of us. But she's
adjusting.”
As a handler, Ross gets to see first-hand the
benefit that these K-9s add to the Coast Guard.
“They are a
unique and rare resource,” said Ross. “They do something that no
other machine or person, or really anything, can do. It's a very low
cost, budget friendly way to protect the American people. The
detection capability that they possess is something that can't be
replicated anywhere else. They have a sense of dedication to their
handlers that is really dedication to the country.”
For Ross,
the question of Chiquita's service isn't a question – it's a fact.
One that he readily acknowledges.
“She served the country,
she did her part,” said Ross. “She served me and worked for me, and
now I feel like it's my duty to protect her and take care of her for
the rest of her life.”
By U.S. Coast Guard LT Katie Braynard
Provided
through
Coast
Guard
Copyright 2016
Comment on this article |
