AU veterinarians deploying to Afghanistan

Printed in yesterday’s Opelika-Auburn News:

The veterinarians at Auburn University take care of dogs every day.

But in August they will be traveling thousands of miles to do so – in Afghanistan.

Three AU professors are among the members of the 358 Medical Detachment, a veterinarian unit of the U.S. Army Reserves, that will be deployed to Afghanistan in August.

Their mission is to take care of military animals, inspect food and help the Afghan people with agriculture reconstruction, said Capt. Brad Fields, veterinary medical officer with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.

“So just making sure the food our service members eat … is safe and wholesome and free of adulterants,” he said. “And that it has been inspected and is not going to harm any soldiers.

“We want to know every ingredient that goes into the product. We want to have a real tight control of what the troops are eating.”

While there, Fields said the unit will inspect facilities that prepare the food and inspect the foods themselves “even if they have been inspected in this country (America).”

But it’s the opportunity to work with military animals that excites Fields the most.

“I love the dogs,” he said. “I love working with the handlers. The human-animal bond is amazing. Because the soldiers are with the dogs … They’re (the dogs) just another soldier.”

Capt. Soren Rodning is looking forward to helping the Afghan people with agricultural reconstruction.

This is Rodning’s first deployment since joining the U.S. Army Reserves about two years ago.

He said he is feeling “a little bit anxious and a little bit excited.”

The unit’s deployment will last for about a year.