Rebecca’s War Dog of the Week: Dogs train along with handlers in combat lifesavers course

By Rebecca Frankel

Best Defense Chief Canine Correspondent 

This is one of the best, new MWD photos I’ve seen in a long while.

Here Lance Cpl. Kurtis G. Lucas, a MWD handler, provides security with his military working dog Sayfa during a combat lifesaver course at the Tactical Medical Simulation Center at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. Marines attended the combat lifesaver course before being tested on their ability to apply what they learned in simulated battlefield conditions. The basic life-saving measures taught in exercises like these not only help supplement the need for medics on patrols, they play a large role in the relatively high survival rate of those servicemen and women who’ve suffered severe injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It doesn’t hurt that these guys have got two dogs in their unit…

Rebecca Frankel is special projects editor at FP.