Staff Sgt. Harold Corey, an observer-controller and Constantinople, Va., native, provides guidance to Sgt. Jonathan Berta, a native of South Bend, Ind., and Sgt. Weston Reeves, of Decatur, Ala., while planning a mission using a sand table. The Soldie...

Spc. Rudy Dorame, a military policeman and Yucaipa, Calif., native, peers around the corner looking for any possible threats during the 17th MP Detachment's police raid training Friday at the Camp McCrady Training Center. Dorame and Pfc. Jacob Sharp...

Sgt. Segal, a K-9 officer with Fort Jackson's 17th Military Police Detachment, receives his favorite toy as a reward for finding drugs and weapons in a suspected drug dealer's home, Friday as part of training at Camp McCrady. Segal is a 78-lb German ...

"We have three in custody," the MP said as he watched a fellow officer prepare a handcuffed suspect for transportation to a detention facility.

The three arrests came after the 17th Military Police Detachment received a tip of possible narcotics in a building. A mother with a child surrendered without a struggle. A second suspect produced a handgun before being tackled, and a third tried to run but was taken down quickly by a police dog.

After securing the suspects, officers and their K-9 partners entered the building to search for drugs and other illicit materials.

"We received a tip there was narcotics in the house," said Spc. Brandon Meyer, with the 17th MP Detachment's Bravo Team. "After securing a search warrant, we raided it. We found narcotics and explosives we weren't expecting."

Once they had cleared the building, the Soldiers began the tedious process of cataloguing evidence collected during the raid.

The detainees were in handcuffs only a few minutes before being released to high-five their captors.

This was just a training exercise, of course. Police from Fort Jackson's 17th MPs were conducting raids Friday during quarterly training at the Camp McCrady Training Center.

Panting heavily while huddling in the shade, Segal, a 78-pound German shepherd, eagerly lapped water out of his Meyer's hands. Segal and Meyer earlier had cleared the house to make sure other officers could enter safely to search it.

Segal was extremely happy even though it was hot, Meyer said. It was easy to tell his partner was in good spirits, he said, by seeing how tired he was. Every time Segal found drugs or explosives, he received a treat -- a yellow ball he carried in his mouth like a trophy.

A second practice raid was to be a virtual carbon copy of the first, yet Meyer hoped Segal would get the chance to take down any runners. Unfortunately for the K-9 sergeant, he would have to wait until another day because a suspect bolted out the opposite side of the structure -- to be apprehended by another police dog.

The exercise was the culmination of three months of training whose classes led to the sun-scorched raid, one Soldier said.

"Hands-on training is so much better," said Pfc. Christopher Stymiest, an MP who works at the Fort Jackson Department of Emergency Services' Physical Security Branch. "People can tell you something 100 times, but unless you do it yourself, you don't completely learn it."

Even after all the training classes, the Soldiers took time to review the raid for mistakes.

"We usually would go through the scenario three or four times," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Endres, the detachment's top enlisted Soldier. "But it is way too hot."

Between the two iterations of the training that day, the canines relaxed in an air-conditioned trailer built for dogs while the Soldiers gathered to critique their performances and eat grilled hot dogs and burgers.

It's not every day that the 17th trains with all its sub-organizations and the canines, Endres said.

"The dogs are really regulated as to how long they can be out here -- how long they can work and what the temperature is," he said as sweat glistened on his brow.

When it's hot, the dogs can keep cool in the special trailer built to keep their temperatures down. The trailer has a central air-conditioning unit surrounded by compartments where the animals can are housed.

The MPs trained hard, even though the chances for them to conduct a real-time raid on Fort Jackson is slim, their commander said.

"Fort Jackson is a fairly small and quiet installation," said Capt. Jeremiah Hunt, the detachment commander. "This is due, in some part, to its low permanent-party population."

If a raid occurred, it probably would be conducted by an outside organization with MPs providing support.

"I would be surprised to see this mission only facilitated by our (Directorate of Emergency Services) but would hope, if it occurred, we would be ready execute," he said.