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As a dog handler with 2nd Military Police
Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters Group, II
MEF (Forward), Cpl. Matthew P. Cobb said he enjoys his job.
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CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, May 18,
2005 — Working side-by-side every day, Marines are naturally a tight-knit
group. When the Marine beside you is a military working dog, the relationship
isn’t any different.
Cpl. Matthew P. Cobb, a native of Topeka, Kan., is a dog handler with
2nd Military Police Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Headquarters
Group, II MEF (Forward) and is in Iraq for his first deployment.
Cobb and his working dog, Laika, have a close relationship.
They have lived, eaten and slept by each other on a daily basis since
arriving in Iraq in January.
Cobb said Laika has human
characteristics so he considers her his sidekick.
“Laika is just like any 21-year-old girl, that’s three in dog years,”
said Cobb with a smile. “I know if she were human, she’d be wild, so
I keep her in line. By thinking of her as a human and friend, it helps
me to match our personalities.”
U.S. Army military police use an explosive
detection dog to search all vehicles in the area after a car bomb
was detonated.
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Every day, training is the
most important part of Laika’s schedule. Cobb said she must build her
endurance not only for her missions, but also for the climate here in
Iraq.
“She (Laika) doesn’t know it,
but all the playing and training is good for her,” Cobb said. “We play
fetch every day until she’s tired, and she lets me know when she is
tired by laying in the shade or she just gives me that look.”
Along with training comes the daily up-keep. She has a feeding and grooming
schedule, and her weight has to be monitored daily.
“I feed her four cups of dog food a day,” said Cobb. “It changes, just
as we change our food intake. If it’s been a long, hard day, I feed
her more. If we’re relaxing back at the kennels, I feed her less. I
brush her coat three times a day, too.”
When Cobb and Laika are called
out on missions in Iraq, they do searches, patrols, and squad movements
just as the other Marines. Cobb trained for combat situations at Marine
Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he is stationed.
“Our main mission while in Iraq, to put it simply, is to find bombs
and bad guys,” Cobb said. “The dogs know how to search for every type
of explosive out there.”
When at Lejeune, part of the training
consists of sending a Marine out in the woods to hide, and often that
Marine will carry some sort of drug or explosive paraphernalia, Cobb
explained.
“We
also search vehicles at the front gates of Lejeune, so that is practice
for the vehicle check points here,” he said.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick
Yourg and his military working dog Cven check a vehicle at the main
entry gate at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base.
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Cobb said as a dog handler,
he’s not just looking after himself anymore.
“When Laika is with me, it’s like having to baby-sit,” said the 2002
Washburn Rural High School graduate. “But Laika is a good friend and
I like having her around. She has my back the same way I have hers.”
Before joining the delayed entry program the summer before his senior
year, Cobb had no clue his journey would lead him to working with K-9s
but he is thankful for his job now.
“I wouldn’t change my job for anything,” said Cobb. “My job gets stressful
just like any other, but Laika is always there to help me relax.”
He went to boot camp in June
2002 shortly after graduating high school. Not only was he honor graduate
out of boot camp, which promoted him to private first class, but he
recruited two people on recruiters assistance, which promoted him to
lance corporal.
“I just did what I was told
to the best of my ability,” said Cobb. “That is what has brought me
this far in the Marine Corps.”
While attending Military Police School at Fort Leonard
Wood, Mo., Cobb was one of the top five graduates of his class. Those
five were put on a board and Cobb won that as well, which put him in
line for Military Working Dog School at Lackland Air Force Base, San
Antonio.
At MWD School, Cobb and his fellow students were taught
the basics of dog obedience and aggression techniques.
“The academics were pretty hard at working dog school,”
said Cobb. “If we weren’t working and training with the dogs, we were
studying.”
The 12-week course proved successful to Cobb, who graduated
the highest of the 10 students, or “Top Dog.” From there, he went to
Lejeune to work at the Provost Marshal’s Office.
Cobb, who married his high school sweetheart after boot camp, is expecting
a child in three weeks. He said his father, mother and two sisters are
proud of his accomplishments and supportive of him during his deployment.
After his four-year contract ends, Cobb plans on getting
out of the Marine Corps and using the skills he learned to work in Kansas
doing law enforcement.
"I like the Marine Corps,” said Cobb. “I like how we
all work as a team. I have wanted to be a Marine since I was young so
this is a dream come true.”
© 2005 Defend America. All opinions
expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect
those of Military.com.
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