Team Mildenhall suffers loss of third MWD in 2017

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  The 100th Security Forces Squadron Military Working Dog section suffered yet another major loss recently when MWD Gina, a German Shepherd, passed away Nov. 27.

The 100th SFS lost two other MWDs, Gandi and Luc, earlier this year.

A memorial ceremony was held in her honor Dec. 20 and Team Mildenhall members gathered to pay their respects to the military working dog, who served the Air Force as a narcotics-detector dog her entire working life.

Handlers and MWDs formed up as the K-9’s final roll call came over the radio, followed by the playing of “Taps.” They said goodbye to the dog who was their partner, guardian and friend.

During her time at the kennels, MWD Gina partnered with six handlers, all of whom said they loved her dearly. Although Gina seemed in good health and had never shown any outward signs of illness, she was rushed to the vet Nov. 27 after being found collapsed in the kennels. She was diagnosed with an internal tumor, which had ruptured, and the vet had no option but to put her to sleep.

Gina was still in military service when she passed away, having served eight-and-a-half years and amassing 24,000 working hours, including 5,000 narcotic detection hours.

Due to retire in August 2018, Gina’s death was a complete shock to her family in the kennels. She was to have been adopted out to Debbie Black, 100th SFS MWD kennel maid, who having recently lost her own female German Shepherd earlier this year, was looking forward to bringing Gina into her family.

Black had cared for Gina since the MWD’s first day at RAF Mildenhall in July 2009. She provides initial care to all new working dogs until they are assigned to their handler, then continues to provide additional care with each one throughout their time here.

“Gina was a very gentle and kind-natured dog, and her main aim in life was to be petted and loved. Whenever anyone came into the kennels, she would sit pressed as close to the front of the kennel as possible, with her head tipped back,” recalled Black fondly. “She had ‘Puss-in-boots’ eyes, which were wonky, and her facial expression never failed to entice everyone to give her attention.

“She also learned to be very devious when it came to detection, and would test out any new handler assigned to her by giving false responses to odor in order to get paid her toy reward! However, once she learned to respect her handler, and they had a good rapport and trust with her, she would behave perfectly. Gina was a very good and proficient detector dog in the right hands, and was called upon many times to work with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath, both on and off base, which resulted in prosecutions,” the kennel maid said.

Black explained that Gina was very enthusiastic in patrol and bite work and was so obedient and proficient in it that she became the main demonstration dog. However, out of the kennel with no leash attached and no reward of bite sleeve or wrap to be seen, Gina was a runner, and thought nothing of taking off at high speed if she saw her chance.

Her last handler was Staff Sgt. James Douglas, who worked alongside Gina for seven months, and he said he’d also been on the receiving end of the K9’s mischievous nature.

“One night I was in the kennels working by myself. Everything was closed off, it was dark outside, and I let Gina out to take a break,” he said. “I turned my back for a second, and when I turned back around all I saw was a shadow bolting out of the gate. I realized she’d seen a rabbit and was chasing it, so her prey drive was fully kicked on and she wasn’t listening to me at all.

“I tried everything I could to get her to stop, but all she cared about was the rabbit,” Douglas recalled. “I ended up chasing her all over this side of base – on foot – for about 10 minutes, until she finally got tired. I was calling out to her but couldn’t see or hear her as it was a grass area and there were no lights, and my only thought was, ‘I just lost my dog…’”

The handler said as he was just starting to panic, he finally saw Gina bolt into the lights, still happily tearing about and enjoying her new-found freedom.

“After a while she was finally getting tired and trotted over to me like nothing happened. I obviously wasn’t happy at the time, but she just laid down and rolled over to show me her belly, encouraging me to pet her, looking at me like she was saying, ‘Hey, just love me.’ I couldn’t be mad at her anymore and just gave in to her, then we walked back to the kennels. After that though, she lost all off-leash privileges.”

Dogs are renowned for their excellent sense of smell and Douglas remarked that Gina’s was second to none.

“Several of the drug-detection dogs I’ve seen at other bases have a weak nose and therefore little motivation to work, but Gina loved it,” he explained. “She was the dog I had to do the least work with – she did all the searching; I would put her off leash and she would pretty much find anything, with very little help needed from me.

“Gina was a great partner, and everyone here already misses her,” Douglas said.