Just some old GIs!
At a time when there are millions of Americans who have never paid for a second of their freedom, have no idea of its worth, and have no idea what it costs, there are many veterans in America in the balance: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Gulf War I, Afghanistan, and Iraqi Freedom. Every veteran has his or her own story, each representing American patriotism and a MILITARY heritage. We should be grateful to those who
"walk the walk."
Our Mission
We will recognize and applaud the dignity and honor of those who serve the United States of America as Military K9 Handlers, and we will encourage others to appreciate and revere the sacrifice and dedication of these fine, young Americans.
We will value the experience and legacy of our own service while we strive to instill in the present generation of Military Working Dog personnel the will and readiness to support and encourage their successors, new generations of Dawgs.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way!
In 2008, Vietnam Veterans Mike Mizak and Ron Carlton, sponsors of an annual barbecue for the "Dog Handlers" of California's Camp Pendleton Marine Base, invited 40-year AWOL Dawg Jon Hemp to join them in their Spring of 2008 event at the Pendleton PMO/1st MEF Kennels. The die was cast: from concept to reality, Feed the Dawgs was informally formed and an outreach process commenced to extend the barbecue idea to any interested MWD kennels in the region. Hot Dogs n' Hamburgers once a year became, more appropriately, "STEAKS" at:
Camp Pendleton PMO/1st MEF Marines ~ 6 April 2009
Edwards Air Force Base ~ 19 April 2009
Luke Air Force Base ~ 23 May 2009
Vandenberg Air Force Base ~ 30 May 2009
MCRD/San Diego Marines ~ 31 May 2009
Nellis/Creech Air Force Bases ~ 27 June 2009
US Navy/CNRSW/San Diego ~ 19 September 2009
US Army Fort Huachuca ~ 26 September 2009
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base ~ 4 October 2009
Military K9 Heritage Exhibit Dedication ~ 17 October 2009
MCAS Yuma Marines/Yuma Proving Grounds ~ 31 October 2009
29 Palms PMO/3rd MEF Marines ~ 7 November 2009
MCAS Miramar Marines ~ 14 November 2009
In preparation for the 2009 calendar of events, the Feed the Dawgs.com web site was established in the fall of 2008 as a "one page sounding board" for interested kennels, donors, and volunteers. Cheers arose with the very first announcement of "hits" on the web site.
In the early spring of 2009, Feed the Dawgs adopted and transformed the K9 display at March Field Air Museum into the Military K9 Heritage Exhibit project: a 600 square foot salute to Dawgs, both Young and Old. Technical support from ITT-Tech's San Bernardino Campus and the complete support and cooperation of the Museum Administration expedited what has become the hallmark of
War Dog exhibits.
Mid-Spring of 2009, Feed the Dawgs' outreach included the adoption of the 8th Security Forces Squadron Military Working Dog Section at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of South Korea. To the delight of the "K-8 Dawgs," the adoption linked Nam-era veterans of the 8th SPS/K9 (Thailand) with the Young Dawgs 8th SFS/MWD (ROK). The "Then & Now" page of the web and it's extension into the Military K9 Heritage Exhibit soon followed.
On 17 January 2010, an "unofficial" Kennel Sign of the Camp Pendleton Marines was unveiled at March Field Air Museum. The original sign was designed and crafted by Marine Sgt. Adam L. Cann, a symbol of his own personal pride and dedication as a Young Marine Dawg. Cann was killed in action in the early months of his "rotation" to Iraq (January 2006). The "Cann Sign" immediately became a more-than-significant icon for the Pendleton Marines. When refurbishing commenced 
at the Pendleton Kennels in winter of 2009, the sign was slated for demolition with much of the old kennel materials. A quick phone call to Feed the Dawgs ~ problem solved. Dawgs Co-Founer Mike Mizak personally and painstakingly "extracted" the sign to a safe haven, refinished the sign to Sgt. Cann's original condition, and step-by-step insured the secure placement of the Jewel of Pendleton Marines at the Riverside-based March Field Air Museum. The sign was unveiled with a formal and appropriate Marine Corps Ceremony. Semper Fidelis.
Where do we go from here?
Now commencing our fourth year of Feed the Dawgs, we have a few new projects that we have advanced, and a few new projects on the drawing board.
The first is the expansion of the Military K9 Heritage Exhibit displays. New media technology is now installed which allows us to provide video streaming of significant history and heritage of Military K9 within the March Field Air Museum-based exhibit. If you haven't seen this exhibit, we are confident in suggesting that any time spent on this interest is time well spent.
Our second enhancement has been to carry over the expansion of the recognition barbecue events to significant bases, camps, forts, and ports that we are able to realistically serve. We will return in 2012 to Naval Base Ventura (Point Mugu and Port Hueneme, and NAS Lemoore Navy Kennels) and our second "Joint Feed Event:" Beale AFB/NAS Fallon/Travis AFB collectively at NAS Fallon near Carson City, Nevada. Consideration for expansion of the Feed the Dawgs feed event concept is taking seed in a number of regions: Wright-Patterson AFB recently provided VSPA Reunion Dawgs with a westcoast-like feed event. Fort Bliss, Texas, is considering a regional Army/Air Force Joint Feed Event for Fort Bliss and Holloman/Kirtland/Cannon Air Force bases. And, northern Florida may soon host inter-branch feed events at regional camps, forts, bases, and forts. Stay tuned for further developments.
The third phase is our continued and enhanced adoption of the 51st Security Forces Squadron MWD Section at Osan Air Base, South Korea. We deliberately select kennels that are not "down range" (outside of the current theater of operations in Southwest Asia). Very often, Dog Handlers assigned these "rotations" are seemingly forgotten and outside of the beam of focus that is nearly always focused on combat zones. This condition does not make their job any less important. That being said, we will also continue our direct support of down range individual handlers and entire K9 units when we can do it properly and with regularity.
Our capacity to insure the continued success of Feed the Dawgs is only limited by the dedication and patriotism of our volunteers and sponsors. If you would like to participate in any capacity, please contact us through our "Contact Us" page on this web site. We will respond promptly.