Military working dog handlers with the 99th Security Forces Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., hosted an explosive-detection training exercise with 25 canine teams from local, state, and federal agencies as well as private casinos in the Las Vegas area. The annual exercise allows the Nellis dog handlers to share their training materials and techniques. “The local canine units, like the ones working at the casinos, don’t have access to what we have, so we try to invite them out here when we can,” said SSgt. Kennedy Wilkinson, a 99th SFS dog handler. During the Dec. 16 exercise, the dogs were tasked with detecting hidden training aids and signaling to their handlers that an explosive was nearby. Although each training aid only had a single scent, the dogs’ heightened senses picked up tens of thousands of individual odors. (Nellis report by 2nd Lt. Laura Balch)
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles have roared out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., for the last time. The 104th Fighter Wing’s last three F-15Cs departed the base Oct. 23 for the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., ending the aircraft's era on the frontlines of homeland defense.
