Alex, a military working dog injured in Afghanistan in 2018, returns to the Veterinary Medical Center Europe for a visit following a leg amputation surgery. Alex’s left leg was badly injured and he was medically evacuated to Veterinary Medical Center Europe for care. Alex recovered in Germany then headed back to the United States to be adopted (Photo by: Ashley Patoka, Regional Health Command Europe).
"These dogs provide critical force protection for the warfighter."
In 2010, a Pentagon task force concluded that the best bomb tracker is a dog, Chevalier added. Using mechanical systems to track down improvised explosive devices resulted in only 50% of IEDS being detected. By contrast, 89% of IEDs were detected by military working dogs.
These canine warfighters improve force protection, mission readiness and lethality because they can find insurgents and weapons caches and protect troops, Chevalier continued.
"Because of the lack of research support to date, even a modest investment to translate key advances in battlefield care for humans to MWDs could yield substantial gains," according to a commentary by the Military Working Dog Trauma Registry Strategic Planning Group published in the November/December 2018 journal "Military Medicine."
K9 Combat Casualty Care Committee
The K9 Combat Casualty Care Committee (K9C4) was officially chartered this year, Chevalier stated, and will operate under the auspices of the DHA Joint Trauma System Defense Committee on Trauma.
The K9C4 will use information from the trauma registry to improve MWD trauma care delivery through development of clinical practice guidelines and informing training and education initiatives for health care providers.
Two forms that will populate the DOD Military Working Dog Trauma Registry are similar to those used for human warfighters. They are DD Form 3073, "Canine Tactical Combat Casualty Care Card," and DD Form 3074, "Canine Treatment and Resuscitation Record." These forms were recently published by DHA.
The American Veterinary Medicine Association supports the creation of the registry.
Another way to help MWDs would be new developments in battlefield treatment, explained Army Lt. Col. Sarah Cooper, the chief of Animal Medicine at the DHA. Veterinary Services is working to have canine blood products available on the battlefield to more quickly treat injured dogs.
"The MWD Trauma Registry, K9C4, and canine blood products on the battlefield are all efforts underway to enhance protection and improve outcomes for MWDs," Cooper said.
"Data from the [DOD Military Working Dog Trauma Registry] will be used to guide product research and development, training for canine combat casualty care and development of MWD clinical practice guidelines. The goal is to prevent MWDs like Alex from being injured, but if they are injured, to ensure the best possible outcome for these canine warfighters," Cooper said.
Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who once served as the commander of U.S. forces in U.S. Central Command, said in 2008: "The capability that working dogs bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine. By all measures of performance, their yield outperforms any asset we can have in our inventory. Our Army would be remiss if we failed to invest more in this incredibly valuable resource."