FMI 3-34.119 - Soldier Support Institute - U.S. Army

Appendix Gequipment or explosive hazards. Dog teams are capable of searching all types of urban and ruralenvironments and can locate both fresh and long-term hides (mines and explosives) constructed of avariety of materials. Dogs are a quick and reliable method for checking an area. They can work at night,but enough artificial light is required to enable the handler to see the dog working and the immediatesurrounding area.Figure G-11. Specialized search dogsG-12. Specialized search dog teams, when deployed correctly, can minimize the risk of life to friendlyforce personnel. They can be used when other forms of detection fail. The specialized search dog works offleash and out ahead of its handler, minimizing risk to its handler and other Soldiers and Marines on themission. These dogs have a high degree of public acceptance since they are not attack-trained and arefamily friendly breeds (such as a Labrador or a Spaniel). The dogs are not influenced by factors that affecthuman opinions. They should be bold, but not aggressive, and steady under gunfire. They are of limiteduse to search personnel. The dogs may tire during extended searches (if working 40 minutes an hour forabout 6 hours). Much of their value is negative, that is, if they show no interest, there are unlikely to be anyweapons or explosives in the search area. The specialized search dog will―• Search for firearms, ammunition, explosives, hides, and bomb-making equipment in―• Buildings that are occupied, unoccupied, or derelict.• Vehicles (cars, trucks, trains, ships, boats, or aircraft).• Open areas (fields, islands, woods, hedgerows, or embankments).• Route clearance (roads, tracks, or railways).• Check buildings after workmen have left, search AOs, such as VCPs and helicopter landingzones (HLZs). These dogs are used to search buildings and areas immediately before VIP visitsin-theaters.G-13. See ST 20-23-10 for specialized search dog operations.HANDHELD DETECTORSG-14. The AN/PSS-14 is a single-Soldier-operated handheld mine detector (Figure G-12) that integrates astate-of-the-art metal detector with compact ground-penetrating radar (GPR) into a lightweight handheldsystem (about 11 pounds with batteries). Only one standard issue Army battery (BB-390A/U) is used topower the AN/PSS-14. The AN/PSS-14 is capable of detecting metallic and low-metallic AP and ATmines in on-road and off-road conditions. Sensor fusion and sophisticated algorithms reduce the falsealarm rate that current metal detectors experience in cluttered metal environments.G-6 FMI 3-34.119/MCIP 3-17.01 21 September 2005