At Fairfield Hills—

National Guard Constructing Military Dog Kennel

By Andrew Gorosko

The whine and whirr of excavators and bulldozers continued this week on a five-acre plot of farmland at Fairfield Hills as the Connecticut National Guard (CNG) proceeded with site work for the construction of a military dog kennel on Wildlife Drive, where German shepherds will be kept and trained for antiterrorism work.

It would be the first such dog unit for the military reserve in the United States. The dogs would be used for drug-sniffing, explosives-sniffing, and for search, rescue, and recovery work.

A compact white barn with a gambrel roof, which formerly was part of a hog barn at the site known as the “piggery,” will serve as the visual centerpiece of the kennel. The kennel is formally known as the “military working dog facility.”

The dogs that will live in the kennel will receive their initial military training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

CNG Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Lukowski is the guard’s construction and facilities management officer.

Lt Col Lukowski said this week that the 6,251-square-foot kennel is expected to open in the fall of 2005. The structure and related site improvements are being constructed at a cost of approximately $2.55 million, including architectural fees. Oak Park Architects of West Hartford designed the facility. Banton Construction Company of North Haven is building the kennel.

Federal funds will cover about 90 percent of project costs, with the state assuming the remainder. Because the project is being built on state-owned land, it is not subject to review by town land-use agencies.

The architectural cues present in the remaining gambrel-roof barn of the former piggery at the site will be employed in the kennel’s overall design, said Michael Rice of the state Department of Public Works, who is overseeing the construction project.

The kennel will have spaces for ten dogs, and would typically house six canines. The site will contain nearby training grounds for the dogs. The six-dog complement will be divided into two three-dog teams. Each dog will have its own handler; each team will be commanded by a sergeant.

An adjacent CNG office building will be linked to the kennel by a breezeway. All facilities will be built on one level.

While dogs will be present at the kennel around-the-clock, guardsmen will be present at the site between 14 and 20 hours per day, Lt Col Lukowski said. A pool of ten soldiers would staff the facility.

CNG also operates the nearby Governor’s Horse Guard at Fairfield Hills. The guard plans to improve the exterior appearance of the barns at the Horse Guard, Lt Col Lukowski said.

Fairfield Hills was an attractive place to build a military dog kennel because the state owns the land, the site is fairly remote, and it has easy access to Interstate 84 and the travel interconnections that it affords, according to Lt Col Lukowski. Access to the kennel will be provided via the entryway at the Horse Guard.

Major General William Cugno, who heads the CNG, spearheaded the kennel project, said Lt Col Lukowski.

Although the CNG is constructing a dog kennel, the organization has dropped its plans to refit a building at Fairfield Hills for use as a “readiness center,” or armory, according to Lt Col Lukowski.

CNG had been considering converting an existing state-owned warehouse building, which lies across the street from Reed Intermediate School, as a space for military reservists’ training, drilling, and offices. The warehouse is situated next to Fairfield Hills’ former steam plant on Old Farm Road.

CNG had been considering refitting the facility to house a “chemical decontamination unit,” where soldiers would receive training in chemical, biological, and radiological warfare, keyed to antiterrorism.

Converting the storehouse for use as an armory, though, would have been impractical, so the CNG decided to locate the armory elsewhere. CNG plans to locate that chemical unit at Camp Rell in East Lyme, Lt Col Lukowski said.