Sather Air Base, Iraq, Dec. 14, 2011: Senior Airman Stephen Hanks, a dog handler with the 447th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, does a training exercise with his dog Geri.

September is National Service Dog Month. In the last two decades, more than 4,000 military working dogs were injured in combat. In January 2022 the Department of Defense launched the Military Working Dog Trauma Registry, recognizing the importance of tracking injuries of the MWDs so it could be used to improve treatments, recovery and development of protective equipment.

Read about the inception of the registry here.

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