Human veterans are usually the only ones honored on Veterans Day, but they aren’t the only soldiers who see combat.
Military dogs have been used by the Armed Services for years to detect mines and also as attack dogs.
This year, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas dedicated the first memorial for K-9 veterans killed in action.
That resonated with Coffee County Sheriff Dave Sutton, whose department works with ex-military dogs.
Through a law enforcement program, the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office received an ex-military dog in August of 2007.
Deputy Asta, a Belgium Tervuren, has been serving Coffee County every since.
Asta is currently 10 years old and works at the Coffee County Jail performing drug interdiction and serves as a deterrent to keep inmates from escaping.
Before coming to Coffee County, Asta sniffed out mines to protect human soldiers during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Asta’s handler, Jonathan Windham, said she’s a little more aggressive than your average housedog, but has never been a problem for the CCSO.
“She’s a big time asset to the jail,” Windham said. “She keeps us from having to get into physical confrontations with the inmates. They respect the dog very much here.”
Luckily, Windham said the CCSO only has to use the threat of Asta to settle unruly inmates.
Sutton said he was glad to see the military acknowledge dogs that have served the United States.
“Asta means a lot to the jailers and officers,” Sutton said. “She’s been successful at keeping drugs out of the jail, and we couldn’t be more proud to have her here.”
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