Partners in training

It takes a different breed to be a member of the 56th Security Forces Squadron at Luke Air Force Base. Actually, it takes several different breeds.

Among the men and women stationed at Luke are six dogs - four German shepherds and two Belgian Malinois, which have had training at the base and overseas.

Staff Sgt. Phillip Kittelson and his Belgian Malinois, Kisma, have been partners for more than year and recently spent time in Kuwait.

Kittelson, who is responsible for the daily training and well-being of Kisma, has been in the Air Force for five years, including 1½ years at Luke.

Kisma is 10 years old and began his training as a puppy in San Antonio, where he lived with a family to socialize him with humans. He was taken to Lackland Air Force Base for 120 days of basic training, joining the Air Force about eight years ago. He has been stationed at Luke since then.

Kittelson and Kisma's training continues each day, most of the time under the supervision of Staff Sgt. John Pillarella.

"My job is to observe the training sessions, critiquing their performance and offering suggestions on improved methods of handling," Pillarella said. "The handler and the dog must perform at a 95 percent performance level in order to retain their position."

In the training sessions, the dogs are asked to seek and find any of nine different odors that indicate an explosive device. Once they have found one of the nine, they are taught to sit and are awarded with a treat.

"In the beginning," Kittelson said, "I place the ‘odors' at ground level until Kisma becomes proficient in finding them. Eventually, I increase the height until it is at a much higher level and harder to detect."

Tests have shown dogs have a sense of smell that is 120 times stronger than that of humans.

For example, when humans smell a cheeseburger, they smell the combined odors of all the ingredients. When a dog smells a cheeseburger, it is able to identify the taste of each ingredient.

Besides training, the teams are assigned to shifts on the base, including random searches at Luke locations and searches of vehicles coming onto the base.

"When Kisma meets new people, I give the command to ‘make friends,'" Kittelson said. "He will then approach people and petting is allowed ... he stands very still and seems to enjoy it very much."

Kittelson and Kisma were in Kuwait from November to April, working with the 3rd Army.

"When we visited the other military personnel, they seemed more anxious to see Kisma than me,"
Kittelson said. "They were all anxious to have him in their command and spend time with him."

Kisma, who is double certified in people and explosive searches, has received two Army achievement medals and two good conduct medals.

He also has been assigned to protect the president.

On President Bush's last visit to Phoenix, Kittelson and Kisma were assigned to the Secret Service to secure the airport for his arrival.

One day, the dog will retire, and Kittelson said: "I am anticipating adopting Kisma when the time comes for him to quit his military work. The only restriction is that I must agree that the dog will never be used in the same activities as he was while in the military."