MCLB honors fallen dog handler

BARSTOW - Sgt. Adam Cann and his bomb-sniffing German Shepherd, Bruno, were on patrol in Ar Ramadi, Iraq on Jan. 5, 2006 when the suicide bomber struck.

Cann, a Camp Pendelton-based Marine and respected dog-handler, was killed by the blast, but his memory will be preserved at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow. The base's kennel was named the Adam L. Cann K-9 Facility after Cann in a ceremony Friday. Although he never served at the MCLB, several of the bases' dog handlers knew Cann, the first Marine dog handler killed in action since Vietnam, and asked that the kennel bear his name.

"It's important we commemorate the sacrifices of our Marines," said Col. Kenneth Enzor, the base's commander. "When you see the names you immediately connect with the sacrifices of those who came before."

Jose Prado, a police lieutenant with the MCLB police, served with Cann at Camp Pendelton.

"He was a very unselfish, funny, class clown kind of guy, but when it came down to his Marine duties, he was all business," Prado said.

Leigh Cann Sr. said his son loved being a Marine and working with his dog Bruno. Adam's step-mother Carol Cann, and Bruno were also at the ceremony.

"He said it was the best job the Marines had to offer," Cann Sr. said.

Adam Cann, who was 23 when he died, was on his second deployment to Iraq and had previously served in Afghanistan. He was honored with the Bronze Star and posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

Cann served under Maj. General Mike Lehnert while at Camp Pendelton. Lehnert, who spoke at Friday's ceremony, said he respected Cann's knowledge of his duties.

"He really knew his job," Lenhert said. "He knew the strengths and weaknesses of all of his Marines, he knew the strengths and weaknesses of all of his dogs, and how many times each had been deployed."

Lehnert said he remembered Cann's answer to a question about the results of multiple wartime deployments on the dogs' personalities. Cann said the dogs were coming back meaner, Lehnert said.

"He knew the effects the war was having on his dogs," he said.

Cann's dog, Bruno, was wounded by shrapnel but survived the bombing. He was assigned to another dog handler and continued to serve for several months but has since been retired from combat.

Dogs at War

The US Marines use dogs during war and peacetime for base security, bomb detection and crowd control.

The Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow, currently has six dogs - four German Shepherds and two Belgian Malinois - that work with the base's civilian police force. The dogs also assist federal and local law enforcement agencies with bomb-detection. In November, the base's canines were called up to search for explosives at Barstow's Wal-Mart after a bomb threat was called in. No explosives were found at the store.

Although dogs noses are capable of detecting drugs, humans or explosives, each use requires specific training, and dogs are normally restricted to one task, said John Pantoja, kennel master at the MCLB.

Pantoja served in the Marines in Afghanistan with his dog but took a job as a civilian at the base. He said that dogs and their Marine handlers each go through a three-month training course at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, but handlers are kept separate from their dogs.

Pantoja said that the handler has to adapt to each dog's unique personality.

"You have the sweethearts and you have the jerks," he said.
He said the demeanor of Fredi, his current dog, lies somewhere in between.

"He's tolerable," Pantoja said.

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