JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas – It’s Mission Monday. Robert Marure is the Military Working Dog Management System contracting officer representative at the Air Force Security Forces Center here.
Marure helps manage the Department of Defense software program, developed by the 341st DOD Military Working Dog Training Squadron at Lackland, to make sure the military maintains accurate data on military working dogs from all branches of the service, as well as non-traditional program dogs.
This includes full lifecycle management of the identity, medical status, training, certification, operational assignment, and disposition of military working dogs that have been evaluated, acquired, and deployed by the DOD and other federal agencies participating in the program.
We asked Marure to tell us a little more about him and his work at the AFSFC.
What do you love about your job?
I enjoy working with different military members to ensure that MWDs are being taken care of. From deployment, special tasking, and the satisfaction of making a huge impact … it’s very empowering and makes us do our jobs to the fullest with pride and professionalism.
When it comes to your job, what keeps you motivated?
Autonomy, mastery and purpose keeps me motivated, as well as the team that I work with. Everyone here is nothing less than A-type people, doing their best to ensure that we are successful in our mission.
Why are you and your team important to the Air Force enterprise and your customers?
Police work gives you incredible mastery of law enforcement where it is an endless supply of training and knowledge. We are servants doing something bigger than ourselves. We are maintaining the Working Dog Management System, supporting lifecycle and training oversight for the DOD.
Describe a project/event you and your team worked on recently that gave you a great sense of accomplishment:
A significant accomplishment that this team has achieved is significantly reducing our change request backlog. We’re now able to quickly assign and develop change requests as they come in.
Tell us how what you do fits in with AFIMSC’s strategic priorities.
The WDMS was developed to provide lifecycle management of military working dogs, this includes training, current location, and health. Military working dogs are used by the security forces and other agencies to assist with searches to detect drugs and bombs, directly contributing to lethality and readiness of our installations and resources.
Is there anything else you’d like to add which might help people understand the importance of what you do for the Air Force?
He system is a multi-service platform used by the different branches to care for MWDs. It ensures accountability and oversight so that service members know that their MWD partner has been properly trained, is healthy and can do the mission.