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International working dog units train together

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Dillon Davis
  • 52 Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany --  French, German and Luxembourg police working-dog units partnered with the 52nd Security Forces Squadron Military Working-Dog Section to train for a variety of real-life scenarios.

The joint-force training enabled each unit to benefit from one another through in-depth tactics exercises and roll-playing.

The training began with demonstrations of each unit's capabilities in different scenarios such as routine traffic stops, drug and explosive searches and tactical search and restraint of suspects. The demonstrations allowed the various units to combine tactics into each setting.

After planning ways to incorporate strategies, the units trained alongside one another to get a better understanding of the purpose and reasoning for different tactical maneuvers in each setting.

This is the second time the Luxembourg police have trained alongside the 52nd SFS Military Working-Dog Section said Commissaire Van Wissen Christian, Luxembourg Police working dog handler. They plan to exchange strategies and tactics in an attempt to improve safety for working dogs and policemen, while building a life-long partnership.

"There are some tactics that the U.S. Air Force uses that we do not and there are some tactics we use that they do not, enabling us to learn from one another," Christian said.

"The 52nd SFS military working dog flight will benefit from this joint training because it brings law enforcement agencies from the surrounding area together to build and maintain partnerships that provide mutual growth," said Tech. Sgt. David Simpson, 52nd SFS Military Working-Dog Section NCO in charge.

Simpson then explained that the military working dog flight here has access to realistic areas for training such as schools, warehouses and other locations that the participating agencies normally could not access. On the other hand, these agencies work with large amounts of narcotics that can be used for odor training, thus mutually benefiting each group.