THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, March 20, 1996              TAG: 9603190315
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS            PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   36 lines

MASTER-AT-ARMS: SHE'S ON PATROL WITH A FOUR-FOOTED PARTNER

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rhonda Bryant's partner in law enforcement is 7 years old and weighs 65 pounds. But Bryant trusts Mark completely; with him, she is never afraid.

Bryant, who started her career in the Navy as an interior communications technician, is one of three female and 16 male dog handlers who patrol all the buildings on Norfolk Naval Station and Naval Air Station, plus all the ships in port.

Her partner is a Belgian malinois who works as a patrol/narcotics dog. The two have worked together for the past year.

They spend four hours of every day patrolling the base, and two hours in ongoing training. In addition, Bryant devotes another two hours a day to caring for her dog and doing administrative work.

The best thing about her job, she said, is ``being outside, and interacting with people.'' Children often want to pet Mark, and Bryant allows them to, ``so they will know that what the dogs do isn't just going after bad guys, and they won't be afraid of the dogs.''

To do her job, Bryant had to first attend master-at-arms school for seven weeks, then dog-handler's school for another 11 weeks. Her responsibilities include not only working on naval bases and ships; she and Mark also go on assignments with the Customs Department and other federal agencies.

In addition to her expertise in working with narcotics/patrol dogs, Bryant is trained to work with dogs that sniff out explosives.

The worst part of her job is being bitten by dogs, she said.

At home, the Asheville, N.C. native has two miniature schnauzers. by CNB