Warrior Pups

Published on October 25, 2017

When Jeff Kamen and Leslie Stone-Kamen pulled into Lackland Air Force Base to sit in on their first 6 a.m. meeting for the Military Working Dog program, they knew they were cutting it close. They parked the car, looked at the clock—6:03 a.m.—and ran up to the front door. It was locked. It was the first of many examples the couple would witness over the next month of how much precision goes into training the around 250 dogs who complete the program each year. “Non-military people don’t usually get the chance to experience this,” says Kamen, author of Warrior Pups, which was released this fall. The book, produced with contributions from his wife, chronicles the couple’s month-long stint inside the Military Working Dog program. They lived with a foster couple tasked with caring for one of the puppies from the program and spent their days shadowing trainers and others on-base. An Emmy Award–winning journalist whose work has appeared on CBS Radio, ABC, NPR and elsewhere, Kamen pays tribute to the San Antonio-based program with photos and stories. “Dogs are not conveniences for us,” Kamen says. “We share this life with them—it is an honor to share this life with them.”

Why focus on the Military Working Dog program?

Jeff Kamen: I’ve had a number of encounters of military working dogs in my career and I always viewed them with awe. When a dog is working with a handler, if you’re at all intuitive and you watch from even 5 or 10 yards away, you sense that there is a power there and it is a power that we found out flows from love, dedication, courage, intelligence and right action. The canine universe at Lackland is an elite community. You don’t get there until you’ve gone through the grueling test of becoming a military police officer. If you don’t approach dog training with humility, you lose. You have to take a patient and caring approach and learn from those who’ve been there longer. They have to watch what each other does and protect the sacred mission of creating these military working dogs who then become components of the military working dog teams.

What was it like living with a family who was fostering a puppy?

JK: We stayed with a totally wonderful foster family for a month, a husband and wife. It was one of those wonderful fortuitous connections. I had asked them if they could recommend a place to post that we were looking for someone to host us and they came back and said we’d be honored to host you. They were fabulous teachers. The book could not be what it is today without that couple. They opened doors for us. Of course, San Antonio is rich in military spirit and the joyful, dedicated foster world is a wonderful volunteer community.

You spent time in a variety of areas at Lackland. Tell us about your time in the maternity ward.

Leslie Stone-Kamen: It was just another place to shine the light on the amount of genuine love that surrounds these dogs from birth on. It was sacred. We didn’t get to be in the space where the mom had just delivered her pups, but we got to see it on the big screen and we got to be with other puppies in the maternity ward. The amount of thought that goes into what the dogs experience … All of the people are so in touch and connected to the dogs that are there.

Was there any resistance to letting you get so close to the training program?

LSK: Yes. Their schedule is very, very tight and their outcomes are tightly monitored so no one wanted these grandparents there. We’re white hairs. But after 30 days they all realized (that our intentions were good) from the get go and they all became like our grandkids. On the last day we were called in during the afternoon. All the trainers were there and the chief said, “Lets face it, when I heard that these two were going to be in my charge I thought, ‘oh no.’ And then you all said to me, ‘oh chief no, we don’t have time for these people.’” But they came to understand that we were so solidly behind them and agile and strong enough to keep up. So he called me to the front and gave me a coin of excellence and then he called Jeff up and they gave us a blue flag, which is a huge honor.