Video: Life As A Military Dog

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — An important part of the Airman’s Creed is to fly, fight and win, and at the Columbus Air Force Base, the crew on the ground is equally important as the team in the air.

One unit makes it their mission to protect the base every day.

For an Air Force Dog, life is fun, says Kennel Master, SSgt. Karl Stefanowicz.

“Every moment of every day for them is play. When they come out of that kennel it is all play. Everything they do is fun to them. There’s no moment like when we go to work, we’re like “Oh, we’re going to work. For them they’re like, Hey, we’re going to play.”

The dogs have an important role in securing the base according to Technical Sgt. Dustin Brooks.

“They patrol the base, they do vehicle inspections that are commercial vehicle inspection area, just foot patrols, basically just being on presence around the base so people see us. They know we’re there, they know not to get crazy and that’s how we pretty much maintain good order here on the base.”

The dogs get their initial training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and like a good airman, each receives an assignment. When the dogs arrive on base, each is assigned a personal handler and each dog has its own specialty.

“When a dog is trained, you want them on a specific skill set so like don’t want a bomb dog trained to detect drugs because then if they respond you don’t know whether they’re responding on you know an explosive or a drug.”

Military dogs became even more important after 9/11. Their handlers say the dogs do certain tasks humans wouldn’t be able to do.

“A dog is a force multiplier for us. What we can do with a dog would take individuals hours when we can go in and get done in twenty minutes.”

Military dogs normally retire at age ten and become available for adoption. The dogs usually arrive on base between the age of one and two and that’s when dog and handler spend time getting to know each other.