FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska – Soldiers and military working dogs from the 28th Military Police Detachment and 549th Military Working Dog Detachment recently visited Two Rivers School in rural Alaska to give a demonstration for the students.
Two Rivers School is located in the town of Two Rivers and serves 67 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. The school is a 35-minute drive from Fort Wainwright, and 20 percent of the student body is military connected, meaning they have a parent who is on active duty, in the Guard or Reserve, or is a veteran.
Staff Sgt. Stephan Strick, the Plans Noncommissioned Officer for the 28th MPD, started off the presentation by asking how many students had dogs at home, and nearly every single student and teacher raised their hand. Despite having only about 720 residents, Two Rivers is a popular dog mushing community and is home to numerous dogsled tour operations and long-distance racing kennels.
Sandra Wolfe, the kindergarten and first-grade classroom aide, said the visit helped show the students a different role for dogs and that not all canines are pets. Wolfe said that soldiers and dogs used to visit regularly when her husband was on active duty at Fort Wainwright, and she wanted to invite them back now that he has been retired for a few years.
After Strick finished talking to the students about what the dogs are trained to do and showing them some of the equipment the dogs might wear or train with, Sgt. 1st Class Justin Kruger, the unit’s kennel master, gave a brief safety talk and asked for two volunteers. Once again, nearly every hand in the room went up. The volunteers’ task was to hide some scented training aids for the first demonstration.
MWD Aramis, a German shepherd trained in explosives detection, came out with his handler, Staff Sgt. Valdo Debarros, and promptly located the training aids in a backpack cubby and behind a mop bucket, to loud applause from the students.
Perhaps the most exciting part for the students though was the bite work demonstrated by MWD Ddena and two of the soldiers from the detachment.
Spc. Frank Pawlowicz donned a padded sleeve and played the role of a suspected criminal. Staff Sgt. Christopher Brouillette, Ddena’s handler, warned Pawlowicz to comply with instructions, and when he did not, Brouillette released a very eager Ddena to subdue him. DDena is a 50-pound Belgian malinois who is highly capable of taking down an adult three or more times her size.
Nynke, 11, said that overall, the visit was “really cool,” and her favorite part of the visit was when Pawlowicz ran from DDena and DDena caught him.
Jesse, 12, expressed similar thoughts about the coolness of the demonstration and noted that his two dogs at home definitely could not do what the military working dogs did. He was one of the students selected to help hide a training aid in the school gym, where the visit took place.
Judging by the applause from the audience, the students and teachers enjoyed the visit a great deal. Staff Sgt. Strick believes the dogs benefit from such visits too.
“Our dogs don’t come in contact with young children as much,” he said, “and just getting the dogs around them is useful. Children can be energetic and unpredictable, and that’s okay. It’s an important aspect of training for the dogs.”
The unit conducts about three to four such demonstrations in the community per year, and Strick believes they help provide a positive experience with law enforcement and strengthen the relationship between the community and the military.
Author’s note: The double letter at the beginning of MWD Ddena’s first name is a not a typographical error. All dogs that are born into the Department of Defense Working Dog Breeding Program, compared to working dog puppies purchased from breeders, are given an initial double letter to indicate that status.
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