Dog (and cat, and bird) days of summer

  • Published
  • By Chris McCann
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The U.S. military has about 2,300 military working dogs, but only about 700 military personnel are veterinarians. Every military installation has veterinary clinics - and they’re all staffed by those Army veterinarians and technicians. 

Between pets of military personnel and MWDs, there are a lot of animals to care for. 

Army Maj. Natalie Erker has been a veterinarian at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson for two years. Usually a civilian veterinarian works with her in the clinic, as do enlisted veterinary technicians, but the civilian position is now vacant – and Erker is going on maternity leave at the end of August. This means getting veterinary care on JBER is going to be difficult for a while.

“The technicians’ scope of practice is limited,” Erker said. While the technicians are capable, federal and state laws prohibit many procedures without a veterinarian on site. 

“They can’t administer vaccines or issue health certificates. We’re booked through the first of August, and we can’t do surgeries until December.” 

Erker and her staff see about 80 pets a week. 

She and her staff also treat the eagles at 3rd Wing headquarters’ Yukla 27 memorial – trimming nails and beaks and giving checkups. They treat the military working dogs and the 525th Fighter Squadron’s mascot bulldog Blue, who occasionally has skin issues. 

The Veterinary Corps also ensures the safety of Department of Defense food supplies, so she regularly checks the child development centers on the installation and the storage of Meals Ready-to-Eat, and twice a year, she audits food storage at the Seward Military Resort.

She also oversees the clinic at Fort Wainwright – though a noncommissioned officer there handles much of the day-to-day work, it’s still another task.

“Dealing with the communication and getting things juggled is the most challenging,” Erker said.

While she’s gone, personnel from Wainwright and Joint Base Lewis-McChord will visit JBER to take on some tasks, such as checking food products. They will also be able to take care of some items at the clinic, but those slots will be few and far between, she said. 

The Army Veterinary Corps runs externships from seven locations, where new veterinarians learn the ropes of running a practice – budgeting, financials, and all the other tasks – for nine months or a year before moving on. Erker said she hopes to have some assistance from that route as well, but getting a civilian veterinarian on board would be ideal.

Erker was in the Army Reserve during her veterinary school before transitioning to active-duty in 2011; she always wanted to serve, she said; her father and grandfather were both in the Navy. She took a different path.

“Army veterinarians are the only ones who clinically practice,” she said. “It’s really fun – and it opens up your opportunities for places to be stationed.”

The military offers unique opportunities to specialize mid-career – which, in civilian practice, would come with a hefty pay cut during a residency. Military veterinarians, as officers, don’t have that issue. They can specialize in internal medicine, surgery, treatment of research and laboratory animals, and a few other options. 

“I enjoy general practice; I can step in and out of the clinic,” Erker said. “But after I’m out of the military, being a specialist would give me more time with my children.”

She said she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in radiology – where she could use ultrasound to diagnose animals unobtrusively, checking hearts, abdomens and the adrenal system for issues that might otherwise require invasive surgery to see.

While stationed at JBER, she said, the payoff is the animals.

“I love military working dogs – both for what they can do and their awesome personalities,” Erker said. “Or when they retire, they’re 10 or 11 years old and we send them to the couch to just be a dog. And the personally owned animals – If I could help everyone, I could. When I can help, that’s really rewarding.”