SFS honors one of their own Published Dec. 27, 2013 By Staff Sgt. Laura R. McFarlane 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The 17th Security Forces Squadron honored Jork, 17th SFS military working dog, with a memorial ceremony Dec. 18. Jork, a 4-year-old German Shepard, passed away Nov. 21. Capt. James Nelson, 17th SFS Commander, presented Jork's certificate of military service to Staff Sgt. Amanda Goetz, 17th SFS MWD handler, and Jork's handler. Nelson followed the presentation with a speech recognizing the bond between handler and dog. "Staff Sgt. Goetz and Jork were masters at their job because of their training, rapport, and mutual respect they had for one another," said Nelson. "Eventually, they developed from just dog and handler, into a team where one knew what the other was thinking, and always knew the other had their back." Jork was born March 15, 2009 and "enlisted" in the Air Force July 29, 2010. He attended technical school at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas and received his assignment to Goodfellow. Goetz and Staff Sgt. Christopher Bauer, 17th Security Forces Squadron MWD handlers, headed to Lackland on April 1, 2011 to pick up the newest member of the security forces team. As Goetz recalls, it was a day she would always remember. "As we get closer (to the kennels) I see the name Jork written on the piece of paper next to his cage. I poke my head around the corner and before I could even say hi he runs into his house," said Goetz. "We tried everything to get him to come out so we could see him...nothing worked. So we finally open the cage and go in. He just sits in his house looking out at us with these bright orange eyes. But when I pulled out that collar and leash all hell broke loose. It took me 10 minutes just to get his choke chain on, he was bouncing off of every wall in that kennel and possibly the ceiling." For the next two and a half years Goetz and Jork would work together, bond and become a team. They would respond to multiple physical altercations, conduct over 720 random access measures and foot patrols. "We spent many nights together, whether it was on an air mattress here at the kennels or me shoving him into my sleeping bag to keep me warm down range," said Goetz. "He never left my side." In 2011, they deployed together to Afghanistan where Goetz credits Jork with saving her life more than once. "That nose saved me more times than I care to admit," said Goetz. "I owe Jork my life." The ceremony honored one of Team Goodfellow's own who was taken too soon and who will always be remembered by those who knew him.
