MWDTSA formally acknowledged Valentine’s Day with its Q1-2019 care packages. It’s been over 10 years since we’ve featured hearts and romance in our boxes. While “romance” might be too strong a word, we set out to honor the timeless bond between handler and dog. It’s a special kind of love worth celebrating.
We fiddled with a few different ideas. Shep-heart. Love-rador. But we decided “You and me, Malintine” has a ring to it. Knowing that some handlers’ partners are not Malinois, we stopped at “You and me” for the tactical patches.
Pictures are starting to roll in, and this is one of our favorite so far! :-)
p.s. If you’d like to contribute to Q2 care packages, visit MWDTSA’s Amazon wish list or our web site. Thanks for helping us support both ends of the leash.
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/MWDTSA-Q1-2019-carepackage1-20190220.jpg16001600MWDTSAhttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngMWDTSA2019-02-25 22:07:372020-04-04 18:06:55Q1-2019: You and me, Malintine
On June 16, 27 volunteers met at Mills Park, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar, to assemble MWDTSA’s Q2-2018 boxes. Led by MWDTSA volunteer Jesca Daniels and Steel MMA & Fitness, the packing team also included representatives from three other groups. Faith, Kailin and Ashley helped on behalf of Pinups For Vets. As well, handlers and family members from MCAS Miramar and 32nd Street Naval Base joined the effort. The group packed 200 12”x12”x 5” USPS flat-rate cartons for military working dog teams in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.
“When I volunteered to coordinate the Q2-2018 packing event, I knew I wanted a theme related to Independence Day,” recalls Jesca. “I also wanted to make it fun, giving handlers a bit of a celebration in a box.”
“Each year at our July 4th celebration, folks shout ‘Merica 726,383 times,” quips Jesca. That might be a slight exaggeration, but the tradition inspired the humorous Q2 graphic design. Jesca painstakingly penned Frank the Freedom Eagle and Merica the Mal, with the goal of showing cause, pride, and humor.
Marvin Madariaga incorporated Jesca’s illustration into a rock-star t-shirt design. This care package also included athletic shorts and a baseball cap for each handler.
MWDTSA volunteer Jenny Gan adapted the drawing into a graphic for the FIFTY/FIFTY bottle.
The majority of Q2-2018 care package contents came from veteran-owned businesses.
“It is cool to be able to promote veterans while also supporting active duty handlers,” says Jesca. “My goal was to include items that every handler would want and be able to use. I am confident that MWDTSA succeeded on that front.”
Logistics for MWDTSA care packing events vary from location to location. In this case, the United States Postal Service could not drive onsite for the packing event, due to base security. So, Jesca’s team rented a U-Haul to bring supplies to the park and later take the completed packages to the Post Office.
“It has been an absolute honor to be able to put this together for the deployed handlers,” notes Jesca. “The MWD community is my family and I am so grateful to be able to do this to show them how much they mean to all of us.”
From Rex Specs to protect Special Operations dogs from rotor wash and desert sandstorms to collapsible bowls to keep MWDs hydrated, care packages include both practical items and treats for handlers and their four-legged comrades.
Volunteers arranged product cartons on picnic tables to facilitate a care package assembly line.
For information on how you can support MWDTSA’s quarterly care packages, see https://www.mwdtsa.org/donate/.
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/merica-new-2-06-06-2018-CPS-Printable.png579785Leigh Steerehttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngLeigh Steere2018-07-02 11:50:072020-05-21 15:26:33Q2-2018 boxes timed for Independence Day
Above: The 24 packing volunteers gather for a celebratory photo after assembling 191 boxes, February 11, 2018.
My mom and I had never taken part in a MWDTSA packing day before volunteering to coordinate the Q1-2018 event. We had seen pictures and read others’ Kennel Talk articles, so we had some notion of the steps involved. But there’s a big difference between head knowledge and how the journey feels. It was deeply satisfying to watch a mail truck full of care packages drive off into the sunset.
Gearing up
When we started planning 10 months ago, it felt as if we had plenty of time. We reached out to potential donors with letters, emails, and phone calls, asking them if they’d join us in our mission of supporting military working dog teams deployed in conflict zones overseas. For every 10 contacts we made, a company stepped forward with a generous donation. Every one of these “yes” responses filled us with optimism that carried us through moments of doubt.
We often experienced radio silence from the other nine organizations, punctuated with an occasional form letter. “Thank you for contacting us. We receive many donation requests from worthy organizations and only have funds to support a few. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide a donation at this time, but we wish you every best in your mission.”
We focused gratefully on the one “yes” instead of the nine who didn’t respond or said no. Over 70 individual and corporate donors stepped forward with enough donated products to fill 200 USPS 12” x 12” x 5” flat-rate boxes.
Staging
As products began arriving, we set aside space in our house to store the cartons. One column of boxes quickly became two, then three, then… Suddenly, we had 40 cases of dog toys, dog treats, and handler snacks stacked in the living room, hallway, and basement. And we knew these 40 cases would grow to nearly 100 by packing day.
Two days before the Q1-2018 packing event, we had a total of 91 cartons stored at the Louisville (CO) Police Department (everything at the edge of the training mat, and all boxes along the right wall).
Our house looked as if we had just moved in and hadn’t unpacked…or were preparing to move out. My dad likes order, and I could tell this growing accumulation of boxes was on his mind. The boxes even crept into my mom’s dreams, her subconscious pondering the unthinkable. What if there’s a flood? Fire. Robbery. Mice. Should we get extra insurance?
As packing day grew closer, we started to think through the logistics of getting all these cartons to our packing location. How many trips would it take? That’s when we experienced one of many sweet surprises in this packing journey.
Through happenstance, we learned the Louisville (CO) Police Department had recently used its training room to prepare holiday gifts for low-income families. So, we reached out to ask if they might be willing to let us pack in that space. They not only said yes; they also offered storage space for our growing mountain of boxes, starting nearly a month before our packing event. We were able to move everything out of our house and reclaim the living room (mostly).
Packing day
As we approached our February 11 packing event, it felt as if we had a thousand details and loose ends to consider. Count, re-count. Make checklists so we wouldn’t forget important tasks. Contact packing team members with time, location, and logistical information. Breathe deeply.
Krystal Rineck (Store Manager, Chuck and Don’s, Longmont, Colorado) and MWDTSA volunteer Anna Steere prepare for arrival of the packing team. Krystal draws diagrams of the packing sequence for volunteers to use as a reference.
Chuck & Don’s Pet Food and Supplies, Longmont, Colorado, volunteered their entire staff to help on packing day. They did this as a company team-building event. Store Manager Krystal Rineck and Manager Mark Saltzman arrived 1.5 hours early to help with set-up. This included arranging tables, deciding the packing sequence, and moving product into position.
When the rest of the packers arrived, Krystal and Mark organized everyone. The group began assembling care packages at 3:00 p.m. and we finished 191 boxes before 5:00 p.m. It took us another 30 minutes to breakdown cartons for recycling.
Packing these boxes was an amazing experience and a way to say thanks to MWD teams for the sacrifices they make to keep our nation safe. It was exhilarating to be part of this team effort, and we’re ready to sign up again!
For more information on how you can support military working dog teams, visit https://www.mwdtsa.org/.
Volunteer packers worked at “stations” along an “assembly line.” Participants added one or more products to each box, then passed the boxes to the next station.
Three adults and two children from United States Postal Service helped at the end of our packing line, attaching customs forms and taking boxes directly to a mail truck. On a Sunday!
Photos by Anna Steere and Leigh Steere
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-q1-packingphoto4-20180221.jpg15362048Leigh Steerehttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngLeigh Steere2018-03-01 23:30:142020-04-04 16:16:45Q1-2018 packing day recap
It’s packing week. On Sunday, February 11, MWDTSA volunteers and donors will assemble almost 200 care packages. Each box will provide essentials and treats for U.S. military working dog teams in conflict zones around the world.
For each quarter, MWDTSA selects a packing coordinator and location. The extensive preparation process begins 10 or more months in advance of each mailing date.
The packing coordinator…
Identifies a theme for the quarter.
Selects products to include in the care packages.
Solicits donations from manufacturers, retailers, and veterinary clinics.
Organizes fundraisers to collect products and postage.
Identifies a venue for care package assembly.
Selects a packing team.
Delegates pre-pack activities such as sealing liquids in sandwich bags.
Works with the local post office to arrange pickup of the finished boxes.
Adrenaline flows in the days leading up to the care package assembly. Will products arrive in time? We double check quantities, food expiration dates, and more.
Stay tuned for photos of our Q-1 assembly day. We feel honored to be able to support both ends of the leash with these boxes.
Visit https://www.mwdtsa.org/donate/ to learn how you can help with future care packages. We appreciate your support!
Many thanks to David Schlatter for his amazing photos of K-9 Kingston and MWDTSA’s Q1-2018 care package.
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/27479644_10215141414997698_688854599_o.jpg8331250Leigh Steerehttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngLeigh Steere2018-02-07 12:04:402020-04-04 16:21:49Packing commences for Q1-2018
Dick Durrance served as an Army photographer during the Vietnam era. Today, at age 75, Durrance is on a mission—to raise public awareness about the challenges of serving in a combat environment. Through photos and speaking engagements, he shares words of wisdom on how people can support today’s military. His recent TEDxTalk brought 5,000 people to their feet.
Dick Durrance II, Army Specialist 4th class, sits in a Camp Evans bunker, March 1968. The Army issued him a Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex which shot medium format 120 mm film. He also carried a 35mm Nikon F camera. (Photo courtesy of Dick Durrance)
As you’ll see in the interview below, his family has a tie to the 10th Mountain Division, Camp Hale, Colorado. MWDTSA’s Q1-2018 care packages are commemorating the 75th anniversary of Camp Hale, and we were excited to learn about the Durrance connection.
Kennel Talk (KT): Tell us about your role in the Army.
Dick Durrance: I served in the Department of Army Special Photographic Office. Based at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, I shipped out for three months at a time to take pictures for the Pentagon in Thailand, Vietnam (twice), and Korea. My assignments ranged from photographing equipment, facilities, and terrain to documenting combat missions. The Pentagon used these pictures to brief the President on military activities in Southeast Asia in 1967 and 1968.
KT: Did you ever have a chance to photograph military working dogs?
Many of Durrance’s assignments involved photographing terrain and military assets for the Pentagon. Pictured here: Command Post 250 on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a heavily patrolled border separating North and South Korea. (Photo by Dick Durrance)
Durrance: Just once, and the experience left me with a lifelong fear of German Shepherds. While in the Korea DMZ, I received an assignment to photograph the canines. I was young and dumb at the time. One of the dogs was on a 30-foot chain attached to a stake. I had the idea of kneeling 33 feet from the dog and setting the camera focus at three feet. I signaled the handler to release the dog to ‘attack’ me. The canine bounded toward me with alarming speed, barking ferociously and baring its fangs. Through my lens, all I could see was mouth. He hit the end of the chain, way too close for comfort.
KT: Your dad, also named Dick Durrance, was a famous ski racer. What was his relation to the 10th Mountain Division?
Durrance: When Minnie Dole was selling the idea of creating the 10th Mountain Division, the military had one question. Would it be better to train marksmen how to ski, or teach skiers how to shoot? The military said to my dad, “We want to send you a company of soldiers who don’t ski and see if you can train them to ski.” They were a test case. Could top skiers in Alta, Utah train neophytes to ski in a reasonable amount of time?
The answer was a resounding NO. After about three months, roughly a third of the skiers had broken their legs. At the time, there were no quick-release bindings. Those had not been invented yet. This failed experiment led the military to conclude they needed to recruit seasoned skiers and teach them how to shoot.
For anyone who’s interested, there’s a chapter about my dad’s Alta experience in his memoir, The Man on the Medal.
KT: On Veterans Day 2017, you gave a TedXMileHigh Talk, and then subsequently took part in an interview with Colorado Public Radio about your time in Vietnam. Here are some of the pearls you shared…
Going through basic training, you asked yourself, “Am I ready for this? I’m about to be melted down and recast as a warrior and handed to the President to do with as he wishes.”
“If you saw someone as a mother’s son or a little boy’s father, could you pull the trigger?”
As you photographed your first firefight, you felt “startled by how loud it was. The roar of the tanks. The boom of the big guns. The rat-tat-tat of machine guns. Deafening and disorienting.”
Grappling with what you had just witnessed, you realized you were “going to have to suck it up and somehow come to terms with the fear that comes from fighting.”
You noted, “I did it for a day and I was rattled. Those guys did it for a year. What did that do to their minds?”
“One of the riflemen in the unit said to me, ‘Dick, there is no more hellish dilemma that we face than taking aim at somebody and not knowing whether they are a friend or a foe. Do you pull the trigger or not? And if you are wrong, how do you deal with that?’”
Timeless advice
Durrance: It’s hard to convey what combat is like. Through sharing my photos, I hope to give people a fuller sense of what soldiers go through and how it affects them.
If we are to appreciate what the men and women who are out there fighting right now are doing for us, we have to understand how profound their combat experience is. They risk their lives, face terror, and lose buddies. And when they come home, they somehow have to square what they had to do as warriors to survive with what they are expected to do now. It is not easy.
“I was walking in Carbondale, Colorado, when suddenly, I noticed square eyes peering at me from the pavement. It was only an access lid to a street sewer, but I felt I was staring into my psyche,” recalls Durrance. (Photo by Dick Durrance)
Even 49 years after returning from Southeast Asia, I will see something random, such as the handle of a manhole cover, which jogs a memory from Vietnam. It will remind me of the guilt I felt when I pushed civilian values aside.
I encourage people to think of every day as Veteran’s Day. Put a couple minutes aside to appreciate what our service members are doing for us every day. Try to understand what they are going through and how it’s affecting them. And what I hope you never forget is that when war goes into a service member’s mind and heart, it never leaves.
KT: As we aim to support today’s service members, what are your thoughts about letters and care packages?
Durrance: At basic training, I remember how lonely I felt being unplugged from family and friends. Mail call was a chance to touch base with loved ones. It was a connection to an outside world that was seeming further and further away. At the same time, we knew our family and friends had no idea of the military world. They were remembering us as we were, having no idea of what we were becoming.
“Mail call in basic training and throughout our tours of duty was a vital link to our lives back home,” says Durrance. (Photo by Dick Durrance)
It’s important to take the time to reach out. It’s also important to try to step into the shoes of these servicemen and women in an effort to understand their world.
Many thanks to Dick Durrance for sharing his experiences and insights with Kennel Talk.
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MWDTSA supports military working dog teams (dog plus handler) deployed in global combat zones. To donate toward a care package for these intrepid teams, visit https://www.mwdtsa.org/donations/.
To order a copy of Dick Durrance’s 1988 book, Where War Lives: A Photographic Journal of Vietnam, send a check for $20 to Dick Durrance, Post Office Box 1268, Carbondale, CO 81623. Make sure to include your mailing address, email address, and phone number when placing your order. Also, he has copies of his father’s memoir, The Man on the Medal, available for $45 each (the price includes postage).
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/WWL.Basic_.Mail_.2.16x9-2.jpg10801920Leigh Steerehttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngLeigh Steere2018-01-29 12:08:552020-06-26 16:16:46Photographer Dick Durrance encourages support of active duty troops
For the first time in its eleven-year history, MWDTSA will be assembling its quarterly care packages in Colorado, for shipment to dogs and handlers in conflict zones around the world. Each quarter, we decide a theme and build the boxes around that motif. Pirates, ice hockey, superheroes, and football are a few recent examples. Our Q1 packing team brainstormed various Colorado themes. Snow sports, mining, mountains, or simply “With Love from Colorado.” In the end, though, we landed on “Dogs with Altitude: 75 years of faithful service.” We’re honoring the 75th anniversary of the nation’s formal MWD program and Colorado’s role in the earliest MWD training efforts.
U.S. military dogs before 1942
Dogs have helped soldiers around the world, dating back millennia. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and other groups utilized canines for defense and more. There are stories of American dogs in the Civil War and World War I. However, there was no formal U.S. war dog program until 75 years ago.
Starting in the late 1930s, enthusiastic civilian breeders and dog lovers volunteered to train and supply canines for U.S. military use. In The Quiet Americans, author Tracy English writes, “One of the most famous groups was ‘Dogs for Defense.’ They came into being immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Along with help from the American Kennel Club, the group aimed…to develop a large trained canine force for use in civilian plants and in the Army if the call ever came.”
Army pulls the war dog program in-house
The military’s need for canines, however, quickly outpaced Dogs for Defense’s ability to deliver. The problem involved more than inability to meet a numeric quota. According to uswardogs.org, “an Army inspection in June (1942), three months after the program began, revealed that the dogs in training had made little progress. This was due largely to the fact that available instructors generally were inexperienced in teaching sentry dogs. They were unfamiliar with military conditions. Most of them specialized in preparing animals for routine obedience tests or field trail work. Another striking weakness of the program was the failure to teach men to handle the dogs. This defect was due primarily to the fact that the Army did not make enlisted personnel available for this purpose.”
As a result of this inspection, “the Army transferred control of the procurement and training of dogs to the Remount Branch, Service Installations Division in June 1942,” explains English. “Previously, the Remount Branch had responsibility for procuring horses and mules for military service. So, they were in good condition to switch up their procedures to procure dogs. The first large request for dogs came from Camp Hale in Colorado. They wanted over 100 dogs for use as messenger, sledge and scout dogs.”
Dogs with the 10th Mountain Division
With the transfer of the dog program to the Remount Branch, the Army embarked on developing a new canine training program during the summer of 1942. The dogs at Camp Hale and their soldier-handlers were among the first MWD teams to take part in the new training, in field conditions.
At 9,200-feet in elevation, with surrounding areas climbing to over 12,000-feet, the Army built Camp Hale to prepare soldiers for wintry, high-altitude combat in Europe. According to ColoradoEncyclopedia.org, “the U.S. Army’s first and only Mountain Infantry Division took shape at Camp Hale over the winter of 1942–43. All the troops arrived at Camp Hale by January 1943. The valley buzzed with the activity of thousands of soldiers training for war. At its height, the camp had more than 1,000 buildings and housed about 15,000 troops.”
Fully equipped mountain trooper and dog, circa 1943-1944. WWII soldiers did not have the benefit of today’s technical fabrics, so staying warm was a greater challenge. Credit: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection, call number TMD351-2017-255.
Man’s best friends boost morale
The encyclopedia entry goes on to say, “enlisted men learned how to survive in winter conditions and fight in the mountains. They practiced skiing, snowshoeing, and technical mountain climbing. Training was hard, requiring marches and maneuvers with heavy packs at high altitude. Soldiers often suffered from altitude sickness, frostbite, and low morale worsened by a lack of nearby entertainment options.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the dogs serving at Camp Hale did more than just their day-to-day work. They provided a much-needed morale boost and occasional comic relief amidst the harsh training conditions.
Our Q1-2018 care packages will commemorate these early teams and Colorado’s MWD heritage. MWDTSA is honored to celebrate the legacy of these intrepid handlers and dogs—75 years strong.
If you would like to contribute items for the care packages or donate toward postage, visit MWDTSA.org for more information on how you can help.
(A version of this piece originally appeared in the December 2017 issue of Kennel Talk.)
https://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-2018Q1GraphicFinal.jpg23962009Leigh Steerehttps://www.mwdtsa.org/wp-content/uploads/mwdtsa-website_headerlogo-01-2020-300x138.pngLeigh Steere2018-01-12 13:48:052022-10-30 10:02:35Dogs with Altitude: Gearing up for Q1-2018 care packages
