b'Photo By Chief Petty Officer Patrick Gordon | NAS PATUXENT RIVER, Maryland (May 18, 2022) - The Military Working Dog (MWD) handlers of NAS Patuxent River pose with their dogs outside the new Pax River military working dog (MWD). The kennel improves Security operations at Pax by negating MWD transport from the D.C. Pax River Security Opens Military Working Dog Kennel on Basehttps://www.dvidshub.net/news/426108/pax-river-security-opens-military-working-dog-kennel-baseStory by Chief Petty Officer Patrick Gordon MA2 Gentry and myself identified 126 discrepancies and Naval Air Station Patuxent River made a Statement of Work to correctNEWS | July 7, 2022 all but four of them that were too costly. We were there to NAS Patuxent River Security cut the ribbon on its newwatch every nail, cinder block, pipe and paint get placed per Military Working Dog (MWD) Kennel this spring as part of our Statement of Work.its commitment to greater base security. The opening isThe team began working on the project in late 2020, and the culmination of nearly two years of work between NASlinked up with a regional expert in MDW kennel operations, Patuxent River, Naval District Washington, and various Army Capt. William Ciancarelli, to create a kennel that was security entities among the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army. up to code. Ciancarelli, the chief veterinarian of Joint Base Prior to the kennels opening at Pax River, the MWDsAndrews Veterinary Branch under the Public Health Activity at assigned to Pax River were housed in kennels at Joint BaseFort Belvoir, proved to be an invaluable resource for the project.Anacostia-Bolling. Security personnel at Pax sought to My role in the kennel project was to provide subject matter streamline their MWD operations by improving the existingexpertise requested by the previous kennel master to assess kennel into a DoD-compliant facility to house their own the build of the Patuxent River kennel based on my knowledge contingent of MWDs for improved security operations of kennel design and its impact on animal welfare and safety, that negated transport from the D.C. area. said Ciancarelli. Together from July 2020 to March 2022 we Taking on this task were a dedicated pair of Masters-at-Armswere able to get the addition of an isolation kennel, graded at Pax River, Master-at-Arms 1st Class Trevor Houseknechtfloors, larger drains, and removal of several trees that posed and Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Kaila Gentry.imminent danger of falling on the kennel. Spending a total of It was my job to determine the flaws of the original 960 hours in planning and execution of the project.kennel structure, find out what we were missing to meet Ciancarelli added that Houseknecht hosted more thanthe standards of the Navy Instruction and get dogs back on30 in-person meetings and teleconferences ensuring kennel Pax, said Houseknecht.construction occurred timely and met the scope of work, 20 Military Appreciation Resource Magazine Thank You For Your Service'