January-February - Air Defense Artillery

92 THE CO ,1ST ,IB TILL EB Y J 0 1IB;'; AL J"Uu"'.'-Felm,~\l
One of Camp Haan's canine trainees. This fellow searches
for wounded men.
hand fighting becomes more apparent. and with this
end in mind. nn officer of this headquarters has been
assigned full time instruction in physical exercise and
conclitioning.
Canine personnel are the newest additions to the
antiaircraft. LInder the direction of i\lr. Lee Duncan.
dog fancier and enthusiast. a group of cleven dogs are
undergoing their three months basic military training.
One- to five-year old German Shepherds, Great Danes,
Airedales, and Dobennans are being trained as guards
and sentries, in disarming men. locating the wounded.
rescuing drowning persons. and in carrying the loose
t:nds of telephone wire. All dogs chosen for this work
are healthy. intclligent. and have a persistcnt disregard
of danger. Those seleCled for guard and sentry work are
trained to "heel" automatically. to accept the orders of
a number of sentries. and to attack an intruder on"
when told to do so. Gunfire. confusion. or fire will not
prompt a dog to flight. barking. or fear.
In t.raining for communications work and in treating
the in lltred. • the dogs work with the men ~ in the oun ern
1:>
placements so that the,' can become familiar with the
acti,'ities associated with their job. In the task of de
tecting \\'ounded and injured men. a shon stick is at
tached to a cord about
(Iuite touch the ground
the doo's o neck. which
as the dog walks along.
doesn t
\ \'hen
the d02 locates a fallen man. v
turn him over to see if there
he willnudoe the man or
1:>
are anv movements which
indicate life. If not. the dog mO\:es on. If the man
2roans c'
mouth
or mO\'Cs. the doo then oraSI)S the • 1:> b
and returns to his station. Thus
stick in hi,
the rescuer~
know when the dog has found an injured soldier. and
then can follow him to the spot.
In training the dogs to overpower and disarm a man.
the first concern of the trainer is overcomino the doo',
o b'
natural good-humor and friendliness. and teachino him
OJ 1:>
to attack savagely when given the order. To gain thi~
end. the trainers. after protecting themselves with
padding. antagonize the dog with gunshots, simulated
anger. and threats. until the dog learns to attack when
threatened and upon order. He is taught to lunge at
the right wrist and forearm. and a husky German
Shepherd can overpower a 200-pound man.
i\ len as well as dogs must be trained. The proper
method of giving orders and handling the dog are 5
sential for their best performance. It takes almost a~
long to train the men to handle the dogs as it docs to
train the dogs.
Each morning the dogs stand "sick call" and receive a
thorough inspection by the post veterinarian.
Eventually this post will have thirty-two dogs in
training here and at work at Camp Irwin.
An inspecting party headed by Brigadier General
G. deL. Carrington arrived at Camp Haan on De
cember 7th and conducted a three-day inspection of the
units of this training center.
Camp Irwin in the i\ lojave desert has revealed a store
house of geological surprises. Already more than thirt~
elements have been discovered in the soil strata, and an
attractive display of the rocks containing them has been
made.