STAFF SARGEANT JUSTIN MARSHALL AND HIS DOGS

WEBSITE: http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/a/r/Kelly-Marshall

Justin (Jay) Marshall, who until recently was deployed with U. S. forces in Iraq, is the son of Frank Marshall and Robin Pearce of Kylertown, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Jay’s wife, Jen Cronin Marshall, is with the Air Force Security Forces. A first child, baby boy Dillon Marshall, arrived on April 28, 2006. Dillon, born in Rapid City, South Dakota, weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches long. This child is a seventh generation descendant of our ancestors John and Catharina Marshall; his Marshall family line comes through their son John Marshall of Parker City, Pennsylvania; and continues generation by generation through William Kelker Marshall of Reynoldsville, Earl Jay Marshall, Twyde Earl Marshall, Franklin Delano Marshall, and Dillon’s father Justin James Marshall.

SOURCE: The following article was published in The Clearfield [PA] Progress (no date, but early 2006) and was written by Wendy Lynn. It’s been transcribed for the family by Kimberly Marshall Santamaria; Kimberly and Jay are third cousins, once removed.

[Note: Posted to the website in July 2006; see related picture of Jay in the website’s Photo Section]

Kylertown officer depends on dog as a trusted partner

KYERTOWN—Imagine being on patrol, perhaps on a military base or in enemy territory, on a dark, quiet night. You and your partner pause for a moment to check something, perhaps a door or a window, and suddenly your partner hears something! He lifts his head and looks around, his ears twitch, his nose wiggles…

Oh, that’s right, your partner is a dog! Does that seem strange? Well, if you have been trained in security with dogs, like Staff Sgt. Justin “Jay” Marshall of Kylertown, it is perfectly normal. He says he depends on his dog as much as he would depend on a human partner, perhaps more.

When people think of dogs trained for patrol, explosives search or drug search, they almost automatically think of police dogs, such as Spin and Tara who work for the Houtzdale Regional Police Department, or Zeus, who is being trained for Curwensville Borough’s Police Department. But the U.S. military has been working with dogs for generations.

Staff Sgt. Marshall graduated from West Branch Area High School in 1993 and joined the Air Force, choosing to work in law enforcement. About seven or eight years ago, he was given the opportunity to do some cross-training and decided that he wanted to work with the dogs, so that is where he applied.

For his training, he was sent to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Lackland often has more than 300 dogs in training at any given time. The dogs are either German shepherds, the kind of dog people normally associate as being a police dog, and a lesser-known breed, the Belgian malinois (pronounced MAL-in-wah).

A Belgian malinois is somewhat smaller tan a German shepherd, a high-energy dog that, much like a border collie, needs a definite purpose for its life.

But not every puppy is suited for this work. In a litter of eight, maybe one is suitable, maybe none at all. They begin training when they are 1 year old and are exceptionally well cared for, with heated kennels and sterilized bowls as some of the perks for military training. And when the handler flies in an airplane, the dog flies with him, not in the hold. This is no ordinary dog.

The dogs trained by the military can also be used for police work. They work with all branches of the military. Staff Sgt. Marshall may find himself working with the Air Force on one assignment, and the Marines on the next. However, when a dog retires, they usually are not suitable for civilian homes unless the family is given special training for life with a retired security dog.

In order to train with the dogs, a new recruit to the program must first learn to control a bucket tied to a rope. After sufficient training, he is given an experienced dog with which to work. In this way, the dog helps train the human. Most of the dogs used in the military are male because a male dog is more likely to search on its own without his handler beside him.

Staff Sgt. Marshall, who is now a handler, has traveled to the Netherlands two or three times during the years to see specially bed puppies and to purchase ones to be trained in the United States. He has had four dogs in the course of his work. Currently, his partner is a German shepherd named Ayke, who is trained in explosives (“bomb sniffing”) and patrol. When Ayke finds an explosive, he sits down and waits for someone to come and see what he has found.

Staff Sgt. Marshall’s previous dog was named Bryan. In 2003, he helped co-train Bryan and they traveled to Atlantic City to compete in the U.S. Police Canine Association National Police Dog Trials. These trials bring together the best-trained dogs in the world and are evaluated by police judges. They placed third that year, and in 2004, both dog and man were preparing to compete again when Bryan unfortunately became sick and died. Every service dog receives a funeral with full military honors.

Ayke and Staff Sgt. Marshall will eventually go overseas to work. Because of security reasons, he cannot say where or when or even what they will be doing, but Ayke, with Staff Sgt. Marshall at his side, will be working hard and doing his job to the best of his ability.

And they will soon be joined by another member of the family. Staff Sgt. Marshall’s wife, Jen (Cronin) Marshall, of the Air Force Security Forces, is expecting the couple’s first child in May.