Deployments pay off for MWD teams during local response

  • Published
  • By Dan Hawkins
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  When Senior Airman Jonathan Van Etten woke up at home on Sunday Mar. 22nd, it seemed like an ordinary day; however, by noon, he knew it was probably going to be a busy one.


By six o'clock that night, Van Etten was left to reflect on how the day had mirrored many he had spent last year in Afghanistan.


Van Etten, a military working dog handler with the 82nd Security Forces Squadron, responded with his canine partner MWD Larry and two other MWD teams to an off-base incident in Wichita Falls involving explosives found in a residence.


After coordination through the proper military channels, the teams arrived on-scene around 2:30 p.m. and met up with an explosive ordnance disposal team from Denton, Texas and the Wichita Falls Police Department.  After a briefing to get everyone on the same page, Van Etten and MWD Larry conducted a sweep of the home for explosives.


During the sweep, multiple explosives including fuses and black powder, as well as military-grade munitions, were found. Many of the munitions were old and in poor condition, but extremely dangerous and an explosive hazard.


Having returned from deployment to a forward operating base in Lagham Province, Afghanistan, last November, Van Etten said the off-base response felt familiar.


"It definitely reminded me of being back in RC-South (Afghanistan)," Van Etten said. "Me and (MWD) Larry have been in that situation before, so we have that comfort level together."


All explosive devices found during the sweep were rendered safe by EOD, eliminating the potentially deadly threat to the neighborhood.


The explosives find was the first to happen stateside in two years by an Air Force military working dog team.


Tech. Sgt. Erick Trusty, NCO in charge of the 82nd SFS MWD section, knows the deployment experience his explosive detection dog teams provides to outside agencies such as the Transportation Security Agency and the local police department is eye-opening.


"When our guys come back, they bring back six months to a year's worth of experience of doing this job every single day in real-world situations," Trusty said. "The knowledge gained by doing that is invaluable and other agencies like to pick our brains for that information."


Getting the opportunity to experience the stress-filled environment of a real-world situation keeps the detection teams on their toes.


"Any time we get the chance to work our teams in a no-kidding emergency situation is great for us," Trusty said. "That's why we do all the training...so we're ready to do it for real."