Canines to Join Hunt for MIAS by Katie Haughey - The Sun Staff Rhode Island December 19, 2002 From search rafts in Watch Hill to covert missions in South America, Matthew Zarrella has used his skills as a K-9 search-and-rescue officer to recover human remains and bring closure for deceased's loved ones.  Now he'll be using his skills even further from home.  Rhode Island State Police Trooper Zarrella will travel with Westerly veterinarian John Turco and two German shepherds to Vietnam in February as part of the U.S. Army's Joint Task Force-Full Accounting. The task force is dedicated to achieving the fullest possible accounting of Americans still unaccounted for as a result of the war in Southeast Asia.  This will be JTF-FA's 72nd mission to recover remains, but Zarrella will be the first ever to use search dogs for the purpose.  "The military doesn't have this capability," Zarrella said. "It's never been attempted before."  Army officials regularly update the relative of those still missing in Vietnam, and a family member who suggested using the canines, Zarrella said.  Once the military decided to utilize man's best friend, the State Department contacted Zarrella, whose expertise takes him to disaster sites, crime scenes, and on missing persons searches.  This intercontinental journey will take Turco, Zarrella and his two search dogs - 11-month-old Maximus and 8-year-old Panzer - to 16 sites in nine provinces in Vietnam. Most of the cases they'll be investigating will involve instances in which U.S. service personnel were killed and buried by Vietnamese people.  "Due to memory loss, terrain changes and the passage of time, witnesses were unable to show investigators more than a very general location where the servicemen are buried," said Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, chief of public affairs for JTF-FA.  Using the dogs in February will allow searchers to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of using K9 searchers.  If the K9 mission is successful, Zarrella said, the technique may be used to locate the missing from other wars - the Korean conflict and possibly even World War II.  "This is a pilot study - it will set a precedent," Turco said.  Zarrella said his dogs, which he trained, can smell human remains - including blood, bones and teeth - that are underwater, have been buried for a number of years and even soil that has been around a cadaver.  "I've had dogs alerts on graves from as far back as the 1830s," Zarrella said. "these dogs are trained exclusively to track the scent of human decomposition."  Once remains are excavated - an archaeologist will be on the trip - they will be tested for DNA and hopefully matched with a serviceman classified as missing in action.  According to Army Capt. Gina Jackson, deputy chief of public affairs for JTF-FA, anthropologists are able to determine whether the remains are American or Vietnamese when they are excavated. Vietnamese remains will be turned over to that country's officials, who have given their full support of the search mission.  Preliminary teams have already determined which sites the dogs will examine. Army personnel examined old case files, spoke with soldiers who fought in Vietnam and interviewed locals who may have seen plane crashes or firefights to determine where there may be MIAs.  As many as 500 sets of remains have been recovered since JTF-FA's inception in 1992. As many as 1,902 servicemen are still unaccounted for.  Since K9 searches have never been done in Vietnam before, both Zarrella and Turco are meticulously preparing and taking precautions for the trip.  When Zarrella was asked to go, his only condition was that a veterinarian come along. He requested Turco, who has been the veterinarian for State Police dogs since 1992 and Zarrella's personal veterinarian since 1989.  "Vietnam is behind Western medicine," Turco said. "So I'll be there in case anything goes wrong."  Both the men and dogs have already begun vaccinations for the trip. To ward off potential infections, all will be on antibiotics while there.  Perhaps the biggest danger to all who will be travel there are poisonous snakes and unexploded ordinances such as land mines or aircraft missiles. When the K9s are used locally, Zarrella said they generally roam a search site freely. However, because of all the unknown factors, they will be kept on leashes abroad.  Both men said they're anxious about the mission, but confident they'll have some success.  "But I feel the mission is worth it," Zarrella, a former Marine, said. "The government has told us if this isn't a success, they'll never do anything like it again."  Another unique aspect of this mission is that a police officer is being attached to a military operation, Zarrella said.  "The difficult thing was logistics - how to borrow a law enforcement officer from the private sector," Zarrella said. The state police were in full support of sending Zarrella, and Col. Steven Pare authorized it. Dr. Turco is simply taking a month out of his veterinary practice on Ashaway Road and donating his time.  The four will depart for Vietnam in February.  "I'm anxious about the unknown," Zarrella said. "I don't have any data to help me make decisions, so I have to trust my training."

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