From handler to hospital: the chain of care for a deployed military working dog

Kelly Mann, DVM, MS, MSS, DACVR, details what battlefield medicine look like for a military working dog. Starting with the handler, who's trained to provide initial care at the point of injury, to moving through human medics, forward veterinary support, and progressively larger operating bases until the dog reaches definitive care.

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Below is a transcript, which has been edited for clarity.

dvm360: Can you walk us through what medical care for a deployed military working dog looks like?

Mann: It actually starts with the handler. For many years, the handler has been considered the first responder who's going to be there at the point of injury with the dog. Depending on the working dog program the handler was associated with, different levels of medical response were taught to that handler, either initially in their training, but also throughout their career. So, it's like any profession, it builds on itself.

Then, from the point of injury, the next medical professional the dog-handler team may come in contact with is more than likely going to be a human care provider, such as a medic at the platoon level. As you try to stabilize your traumatized military working dog and move them to higher roles of care for definitive treatment, you’re going to first go through medical evacuation, then to a Role 1 or Role 2 level facility.

The US military does deploy medical detachments focused on veterinary service support, so we do provide veterinary medical care on the battlefield. However, you can't be everywhere. Think of it as a hub-and-spoke system: people in the farthest reaches feed back to larger and larger operating bases where our hospital capabilities, as well as human hospital capabilities, are located. Ultimately, you’d be moved out of that theater of operations to a fixed facility, probably, depending on where you're located, in Germany, Japan, or back in the United States in Texas, or at another major military veterinary facility.

Kelly Mann, DVM, MS, MSS, DACVR, is vice president of veterinary solutions at Mantel Technologies and a retired US Army Veterinary Corps officer whose work focuses on working-dog medicine and veterinary trauma research.

Kelly Mann, DVM, MS, MSS, DACVR, is vice president of veterinary solutions at Mantel Technologies and a retired US Army Veterinary Corps officer whose work focuses on working-dog medicine and veterinary trauma research.