Army NCO assigned to Air Force unit supports military working dogs

Published Jan. 25, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Robert Sizelove
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- A special team in the 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron plays a vital role for military working dogs and their handlers. The U.S. Central Command's military working dog liaison hub at an air base here in Southwest Asia, is the central processing point for all military working dogs assigned within the area of responsibility.

Army Staff Sgt. Raymond Richardson is one of the military working dog liaisons, also known as LNOs, who works at the LNO hub. He admits the work can be challenging at times, but also very rewarding.

"We deal with an enormous amount of dogs that come through here," said the NCO, who is deployed from Fort Benning, Ga. "Basically, we get the dogs and their handlers all the gear they will need, get them processed into the AOR, and then get flights throughout the theater for them. When they get back here at the end of their tour of duty, we outprocess them, and get them flights home."

Sergeant Richardson said liaisons act as the "middle men" between the dogs' home station units and their forward deployed units. He said it takes a lot of coordination and can mean a lot of crazy hours, but it's worth it.

"It's a real rewarding job because I get to see all these dogs and a lot of the handlers I've known for a long time," he said. "So it's very interesting, it's been nice seeing people I know coming through here."

The Oklahoma native said being assigned to a predominately Air Force unit has its challenges. Although he attended the joint service K-9 school at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, he hadn't worked side by side with Airmen since then.

"It's a lot different than the Army so it took me a little bit of getting used to the terminology," said Sergeant Richardson. "I'll probably end up going back to the Army still calling our unit a 'squadron' and things like that."

The K-9 career field is a relatively small world regardless of the military branch of service, so it's a very tight knit family, he said. "We're all K-9, so we like to treat everybody that way."

Sergeant Richardson added that working at the LNO hub, with its joint service environment, was a great experience; one that he will certainly take with him on future joint assignments.