Rebecca's War Dog of the Week: May claims two K-9 handlers, MA2 Brazas and Cpl. Coffey, KIA in Afghanistan

MA2 Sean Brazas holding MWD
Sicario at Yuma Proving Ground.

By Rebecca Frankel

Best Defense Chief Canine Correspondent

Shock and sadness rippled through the MWD world this week
with the news that handler U.S. Navy Master at Arms 2nd Class Sean
Brazas died on May 30th. He was killed
by a single bullet while helping a fellow serviceman into a helicopter during
"combat operations in Panjwa'l, Afghanistan." MA2 Brazas's working dog and
partner, Sicario, was reportedly treated for heat exhaustion that day but was
not injured in the attack.

Brazas is survived by his wife, Allie, and their 13-month-old
daughter. Originally from Greensboro, NC, Brazas had just celebrated his 26th birthday
on May 1, only days after arriving in Afghanistan.

In April, just before the pair deployed, Brazas and Sicario
went through the Inter-Service
Advance Skills K9 course, the three-week,
Marine-run training program based out of Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma,
AZ. Upon completion of the course the pair received high honors,
claiming the Top Dog Award.

MA1 Jennifer Trambulo, an instructor at YPG, told me
yesterday that, "Brazas made such an impact on all of us
instructors ... He was so appreciative of all the people that helped him get K-9.
He gave the ultimate sacrifice. He will never be forgotten."  

One of Brazas's mentors, MA1 Shannon Golden, says Sean was a
remarkably hard-working handler who "always had a smile on his face." She and
Sean were stationed together in Guam a few years ago; he was there on kennel
support. "The first time I
met Sean was when he came over to find out how he could become a dog handler. He wanted to work with dogs so
bad that he dedicated his off time to come over to the security department and
work at the kennels."

Golden,
who is currently deployed in Africa, spoke with me online late last night. She talked
about Sean openly, and the fresh pain of her loss was palpable. Golden said that her first reaction to the news of
Sean's death was anger. "I have to admit that I was very mad when I heard," she
told me. "Even mad at him cause he told me earlier that he was gonna be fine,
that 'I know him' and 'he's quick on his feet.'" But even in his death, Golden
feels Sean's character shines through. That he was killed while assisting someone
else, is to her just "typical Sean."

"He cared about everyone. He put
his life on the line. I think even if he knew by helping that soldier to [the
helicopter] things would turn out the way it did, he would still help the guy."

Tucked in the corner of MA2 Sean Brazas's Facebook page, under
"favorite quotation," is a line by Will Rogers, American cowboy
and 1920s vaudeville celebrity, that is now as painful as it is poignant to
take in. It reads: "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then
when I die I want to go where they went."

Cpl.
Keaton G. Coffey on deployment with his MWD, posted March 19.

Brazas's death comes too close on the heels of news of another
canine handler killed in action only days earlier in Helmand, Afghanistan, Marine
Cpl. Keaton
Coffey. According to the DoD release,
he died on May 24th also "during combat operations." His dog, Denny, survived.

Cpl. Coffey
only had three weeks left on his tour during his second deployment to Afghanistan
when he was killed. He was scheduled to return back to his base, Camp
Pendleton. The 22-year-old native of Boring, OR, was to be married to in a
wedding ceremony planned for this July.

Coffey is remembered
as "gentle" and "compassionate." The principal of his high school, where as a
senior he was elected student body president, told
reporters that even as a young man he was "polite, respectful,
kind, and considerate." Coffey's body was returned home to the United
States in a flag-draped coffin arriving to Dover Air Force Base on May 26.

A service for Keaton Coffey will be held
on June 4 after which he will be laid to rest in the Willamette National Cemetery in Oregon with
full military honors. While funeral arrangements are still
forthcoming, Sean Brazas will be laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery, alongside
his grandfather who fought in WWII.

May has been a cruel month for the MWD community. But the close
of this month saw not just an outpouring of grief but also of shared
support, respect, and remembrance, with people honoring Coffey and Brazas by posting photos
and memories online.

As word of Brazas's death first appeared on the Internet, the public
Facebook group Military
Working Dogs -- run by a group of former military handlers -- posted the
information they had to offer, promising, "We will post more
information as we receive it. Rest in peace, brother. We have the watch."

Rebecca Frankel, on leave from her FP desk, is currently writing a book about military working dogs, to be published by Free Press.