November 4, 2016
The atmosphere was visibly solemn as defenders from the 11th Security Forces Group stood at attention on Joint Base Andrews Oct. 28 to pay their respects to two decorated American heroes.
The military working dogs — an Afghanistan veteran, and the other a vital part of JBA security — left ‘pawsitive’ impressions on their coworkers.
“Military working dogs are a vital asset to Air Force operations and are considered essential for detection of explosives and narcotics due to their sense of smell being 20 times more powerful than a human’s,” Staff Sgt. Derek Scrivener, 11th Security Support Squadron military working dog handler, said. “The dogs are highly skilled and can be used as attack dogs when necessary.”
MWD Riso was born Oct. 23, 2006 and began his career in the Air Force Dec. 7, 2007. Riso was certified for narcotics detection before starting his career at JBA. Riso worked with nine handlers over a span of 10 years, providing security and multiple positive narcotics detections and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. MWD Riso passed away Oct. 3 due to medical conditions.
His wingman, MWD Kart, was born Nov. 7, 2007 and was accepted into the Air Force in January of 2008. Kart was certified for explosive detection before starting his career at JBA where he worked with seven handlers in seven years. MWD Kart provided security for copious amounts of high-profile events and distinguished leaders and visitors from around the world. Kart was retired from duty June 13 and was adopted by Tech Sgt. Jake Twaddle, where he enjoyed civilian life. Kart had to be put down Oct. 6 due to medical complications.
“It didn’t matter what we were doing, whether it was driving around base seeing the vet for a checkup or spending hours inspecting car after car at the search pit,” Tech Sgt. Codi Carter, Pentagon military security force team leader, said. “No matter what, he was always happy.”