NAS Jax dog handlers awarded

This esteemed award is presented each quarter to the kennel that demonstrates outstanding job performance and goes above and beyond their day-to-day requirements. Eleven commands within the region compete each quarter for this award.

"I would like to say that on behalf of the region, you have all done a great job. Thank you very much for your outstanding service. You have exceeded your monthly utilization. The manual says you are supposed to put in five hours a week, but you are doing on an average of about seven hours each week," said Regional Military Canine Coordinator J.R. Prevatte.

"And, as for training and trials, you're required to have an hour each week, but the dogs here are getting up to three each week. "

To earn this award, the kennel masters work with their dogs is evaluated based on their utilization time of the dogs which means how long they spend conducting gate vehicle inspections, random parking lot vehicle inspections and command authorized inspections in buildings around the base. These inspections are conducted to search for unauthorized narcotics or explosives on base.

From left, MA2 Justin Morris and his MIlitary Working Dog (MWD) Brix, MA2 Angela Watson with MWD Ceasar and MA2 Robert Calabro with MWD Nnick proudly display their trophy after being designated "Best Kennel" in Navy Region Southeast for the 2008 first quarter.

The teams are also evaluated on their training and trial times. "This means the kennel masters must continuously train their dogs on the specific odors they respond to. For a drug dog, it's a 90 percent detection rate

and for an explosive dog, it's 95 percent. So there is not a whole lot of room for margin of error on that. If they miss a test, it takes a lot of work to make it up," explained Prevatte.

"To earn this trophy, a command not only has to meet the requirements, but they have to have that extra oomph to get them over the top and NAS Jax has worked very hard to do exactly that."

"Anytime I have something come up whether it's a Secret Service mission, ship's commissioning, Fleet Week, etc. and I need to use a canine, I know that all I have to do is pick up the phone and call NAS Jax and they make it happen. NAS Jax has been stellar in all their support," Prevatte continued. "Many times these things happen very quickly and sometimes it means a lot of travel so these handlers scramble, get their orders done and the next thing I know the mission is complete and I get good reports back from the organizations we support."

The MWD team here consists of six handlers and six dogs. "We currently have four teams here right now and two teams on deployment supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom on individual augmentee tours," explained MA2 Angela Watson, who is often seen around base conducting inspections with her MWD Ceasar. "We have a great team here and it's so nice to be recognized. It's a very prideful thing when you win an award like this. It makes our command and our handlers look good. It's definitely a great thing to have. We plan to continue to work hard and hold onto this trophy for awhile."