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Posted on 05/16/2003 4:27:51 AM PDT by csvset
''Operation Devil Dog'' aims to cool Marines' canine heroes
By CATHERINE KOZAK, The Virginian-Pilot
© May 16, 2003
An Outer Banks animal-help group is lending a hand to raise money for loyal four-legged Americans in the Middle East desert that need to chill out.
After Patti Bourexis, a volunteer with the Coastal Humane Society, saw pictures of Marine dogs deployed with the U.S. military, she tracked down the nonprofit North Carolina museum that is collecting dollars to buy cooling vests and pads for the hot dogs.
``I really believe that the dogs are troops, just like the humans are troops,'' Bourexis said. ``What struck me is if we talked about supporting our troops, I really don't want them to fall through the cracks.
``They are our true canine heroes.'' ``Operation Devil Dog'' was launched by Tonya Nagle, volunteers coordinator at the Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas in Jacksonville, after she had received an e-mail last month from a friend deployed in Kuwait. The friend, a Marine kennel master, told Nagle how the military dogs were affected by the extreme heat. Some animals were getting sick and at least one reportedly had died of heat exhaustion, she said.
After learning that the military was not prepared to deal with the problem, Nagle decided to find the money to purchase the cooling apparatuses for the dogs, which are mostly Belgian malinois, a breed similar to German shepherds.
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``They are trying to get the items, however, cool vests are not a standard item,'' Nagle said of the military. ``They did not see this coming.'' Canines in the U.S military perform tasks like crowd control, bomb sniffing, vehicle searches, drug detection and safety patrol. About 150 are deployed in Iraq, Djibouti, Kuwait and Afghanistan, Nagle said.
Dogs have been used by the military since World War I. During the Vietnam War, canines were used by the Army, Marines and Air Force.
Bill Childress, Marine Corps working-dog program manager, said he is in the process of purchasing the vests and pads, which cost, at discount prices, about $200 and $125 each, respectively. He said he has requested them for all the deployed dogs within the Department of Defense.
Made of lightweight vinyl-like material, the vests have pockets into which chilled squares can be tucked. The cool pads are similar, except the dogs can lie down directly on them.
``It's a fairly new product,'' Childress said.
Despite the relief they could offer, dogs still need to be trained to tolerate the vests.
``Some dogs may like them and some may not,'' he said. ``It may be a distraction to them. They're not that heavy. But animals, any time you do something differently, they react to it.'' Each dog also responds differently to heat, he said. Handlers have been watching the war dogs carefully and provide plenty of water and, when possible, air-conditioned vehicles and quarters.
Nagle is well aware that the Pentagon does not always secure new supplies quickly, and she is trying to get vests to the dogs as soon as possible. On Tuesday, she placed the first order of 10.
The Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas will be built in Jacksonville to showcase the history of the four military bases in the region: Camp Lejeune, and the New River, Cherry Point and Beaufort, S.C., Marine Corps air stations.
``It's actually just a natural for us,'' Angie Seevers, assistant to the director of the museum, said of ``Operation Devil Dog.'' ``The war dogs that were used in World War II were trained here -- they came out of Camp Lejeune.'' Since ``Devil Dog'' is a nickname for Marines, the name does double duty. Dogs in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf were also raised and taught at Lejeune.
``They're highly trained and they're used in a variety of roles,'' Seevers said. ``The most important thing we recognize is they're four-legged warriors who are aiding, assisting and protecting our two-legged warriors.'' So far, ``Operation Devil Dog'' has collected more than $2,000 for the vests and pads. The goal is to raise $30,000 so that all of the American war dogs can be cooled down before the height of the Persian Gulf heat in August.
Reach Catherine Kozak at 252-441-1711 or cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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