Army vets serve Air Force, Ellsworth pets

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lauren Wright
  • Black Hills Bandit staff
When most Airmen think of a veterinarian, the Army usually doesn’t come to mind. But at Ellsworth, as with other military installations, the Army manages the vet clinic on base. The clinic reports to a regional commander, located in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., under the U.S. Army Veterinary Command, but works with services and the medical group at Ellsworth for support.

The medical group, for instance, calibrates the clinic’s oxygen units.

Although care of military working dogs takes priority, caring for privately owned pets is an expanding mission.

The clinic currently provides vaccinations, preventive medication, and diagnosis and treatment of various illnesses for privately owned pets. Minor surgeries are also available.

Leadership wants to improve servicemembers’ quality of life with better health care, educational development and family growth, and veterinarian services fall along those lines, said Army Capt. Jeremiah Nelson, the Ellsworth veterinarian.

“People want to have healthy dogs and healthy cats,” he said. “(Privately owned) animals encompass most of our time, but if there is a military working dog, it will trump about anything.”

VETCOM is also responsible for animal disease prevention and control, and food safety. Although the food inspection component might seem like an unnatural fit since other U.S. organizations strictly regulate food, Captain Nelson said veterinarians inspect food for military members because they understand animal muscles and can find lesions in the meat.

“When you deploy, (food inspection) is actually the largest part of your mission,” Captain Nelson said. “When you go overseas and you walk in there, you may be the only inspection that place has ever seen or will ever see. We are doing food inspections here, like we would do it overseas, training to deploy. Everything is going toward smaller, more mobile units that are deployable.”

As with doctors, relationships with veterinarians can be sensitive and sometimes disrupted by deployments and permanent change of stations -- by either the veterinarian or the pet owner.

“I tell people, ‘I might not be here next year, so if I want to start your dog on (a type of medication), I can’t guarantee the next captain who comes in here will want to do that,’” Captain Nelson said.

The normal response: “Well, we might not be here either.”

With approximately 700 Army veterinarians on active duty and Reserve, VETCOM supports more than 300 installations worldwide.

Fifty percent of VETCOM-enlisted authorizations are at other-than-Army installations.

“We’re like the ugly red-headed step-child on an Air Force base,” joked Captain Nelson, who sees 15 to 30 animals a day.

Last week, Captain Nelson neutered George, an 8-month-old West Highland white terrier. George’s owner, Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Rogers, 28th Munitions Squadron, said he’s been pleased with the clinic service.

“We’ve gone to the clinic three or four times,” he said. “It’s easy to get into, and the people are really friendly. We’re very happy with the base so far, so I don’t think we’ll change.”

Captain Nelson said owners should consider the base clinic as an affordable first option that can satisfy a lot of pet needs. The clinic has a moderate pharmacy, access to a huge online pharmacy, a heart-rate monitor and other equipment for basic medical and dental procedures.

“When you get down to it and you do a good physical exam and a good history, there are not a lot of cases where you say, ‘Hmm, it’d be great to have a radiograph or other fancy equipment,’ but I give owners options and I try to do that with every client who walks in,” he said.