WAKUNI, YAMAGUCHI, Japan -- Marines from the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni Provost Marshal’s Office K-9 unit trained with Hiroshima Prefectural Police Headquarters policemen and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Kure Repair and Supply Facility Petroleum Terminal military working dog handlers at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, March 22, 2016.

Trained in a variety of areas such as locating explosives and narcotics, conducting patrols and human tracking, handlers and their military working dogs train regularly in order to maintain operational readiness, become a more effective team and ensure the safety of the station residents.

“The objective of this joint training is to strengthen a friendly and cooperative relationship between MCAS Iwakuni and JMSDF Kure personnel and to improve the ability to achieve respective goals,” said Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Capt. Yasushi Fujita, JMSDF Kure area security command post chief.

U.S. and Japanese handlers escorted their K-9’s to locate explosives hidden throughout the stations landfill and harbor areas. Sgt. Adrian Nanez, PMO kennel master with H&HS, placed explosives in hidden locations while the pair waited out of site, resulting in a more cautious and thorough search, increasing the overall training effectiveness.

“We started conducting joint training with the Japanese handlers a couple of years ago and have tried to every three months since then to search for explosives and prepare our dogs for any type of emergency,” said Lance Cpl. Colton Corsetti, PMO military working dog handler with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron. “We have a couple of different scenarios that we set up with the police handlers involving buildings with big rooms that resemble a stadium or a large gathering, so our dogs become used to searching for long periods of time and are able to search for multiple ingredients in different explosives.”

Conducting bilateral training like this builds stronger relationships between the U.S. and Japan while also maintaining situational readiness and ensuring the safety of personnel.

“JMSDF engages in various exercises with U.S. armed forces including JMSDF deployments for guard and force protection of U.S. bases in Japan and conducting JMSDF security missions,” said Fujita. “These represent our outstanding and positive relationship and therefore I believe this training is very important.”

Corsetti said with the Marines military background and the Japanese knowledge of the culture and area, can work together to get better at responding to any situation that may occur.

“We learn a lot from the Japanese,” said Corsetti. “Every time we conduct training together, I walk away knowing more than I did going in. The obedience their dogs have is superb and their search patterns are great.”