JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The Air Force Security Forces Center here officially launched the Kennel Health Assessment 2.0 project to determine the holistic state of all kennels across the U.S. Air Force and ensure the well being of all military working dogs.
The project began in 2018 as KHA 1.0 by Master Sgt. Steven Kaun, the current MWD program manager. It had the basic bones of the current project, most importantly the need to track the status of each individual kennel, but because of competing priorities, it had to take a backseat. It was revived when AFSFC and Air Staff leadership recognized the need for more information. In this second iteration, they devised a way to assign a grade to each kennel in the system.
“This is instrumental in our ability to communicate to senior leaders and key decision makers the data they need to make the most informed decisions when it comes to MWD readiness, health and its direct correlation to the MWD kennel facilities, which house these sensitive, high-value assets,” said Tech. Sgt. Otho Nugent, the Air Force MWD assistant program manager, who leads special projects. “Currently there is nothing to capture the status of MWD kennels across the enterprise and we recognize this is a problem ... we have created a comprehensive solution and the first-ever product to get after the problem.”
The team developed a custom workbook to analyze four major focus areas -- administrative offices, kennel facilities, support areas and veterinary support. It will also analyze 10 sub-focus areas and 32 graded areas. These parameters will be used to categorize and advocate for facility enhancements and renovations to properly support over $116 million in MWD assets.
Responses were solicited from 74 field units at permanent bases. Information gathered will be compiled into a dashboard to show both individual and holistic kennel health across the Air Force.
“With the continued development, this product can be captured, updated and displayed in a Share Point database, allowing for live and analyzed data,” Nugent said. “These efforts directly correlate to MWD health, safety, quality of life and overall readiness.”
The product will be available for security forces decision makers through a secured web platform and will allow leaders to use the data to invest in their home station kennels, ensuring they are in compliance with requirements for facility care and maintenance.
Kennels must be up to standard on sanitation and preventative health measures, including food quality, waste disposal, insect and rodent control, water supply, vaccinations, training of personnel, safety measures and additional areas.
“Most wouldn’t think that a kennel facility would have anything to do with readiness; however, this is inaccurate,” Nugent said. “MWDs are required to be housed in these facilities, and if conditions are poor then the health of the MWDs housed within them will diminish. Ensuring our most valuable assets, people and MWDs, have the ability to perform what they have been tasked and trained to do is at the heart of readiness. It is our job as an Air Force to provide these basic foundational needs for our K-9s to ensure they can perform to their max potential at a moment’s notice.”
To effectively track this vital information, AFSFC wants to improve on KHA 2.0 and launch a more comprehensive database application that will contain the information collected and allow owner/users in the field to update the information as needed. Funding an owner/user compatible database would allow the Air Force to control and monitor the information through contractual agreements, business rules and more. In the future, the team hopes to survey readiness training centers and forward bases with a MWD footprint.
“In order to maintain MWDs we have in inventory and continue to enlist MWDs into the Air Force in accordance with our regulations, we need to invest our time, money and efforts into our kennel facilities,” Nugent added. “MWDs are not seen as equipment but as sensitive, high-value assets that require training, love and attention to operate at Olympic levels by skilled handlers.”