The Military Police Sentry Dog units were entrusted with the task, of insuring security for the Hawk Mobile Missle Battalions. Current information shows that the majority of these Dog Teams were assigned to the 212th SD Unit between 1965 and 1969, with at least one Dog Team assigned to the 981st SD Unit, between 1967 and 1968. Below is a description of the Hawk Missle and an outline of it's use.

The HAWK MISSLE is a medium range, surface-to-air guided missile that provides air defense coverage against low-to-medium-altitude aircraft. It is a mobile, all-weather day and night system. The missile is highly lethal, reliable, and effective against electronic countermeasures.

Basic HAWK was developed in the 1950s and initially fielded in 1960. The system has been upgraded through a series of product improvements beginning with the Improved HAWK in 1970. The Phase III product improvement and the latest missile modification were first fielded in the early 1990s to the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). Two missile modifications have extended the missile's field life and added electronic counter-countermeasures to defeat special threats.

Development was completed on HAWK mobility, the latest system improvement, and it was produced for the USMC and Sweden. The U.S. Army National Guard (ARNG) as well as 20 allied nations, including NATO and several countries in both Southwest Asia and Southeast Asia, were also equipped with the HAWK system. Prime contractor for this system is the Raytheon Company. The cost per missile is $250,000; per fire unit, $15 million; and per battery, $30 million.

Although HAWK missile batteries were deployed by the U.S. Army during the conflicts in Vietnam and Persian Gulf, American troops have never fired this weapon in combat. The first combat use of HAWK occurred in 1967 when Israel successfully fired the missiles during the Six Day War with Egypt.

Even though it was not used by the coalition during Operation Desert Storm, the HAWK missile did see action during the Persian Gulf War. Kuwaiti air defense units equipped with U.S. HAWK antiaircraft missiles downed about 22 Iraqi aircraft and one combat helicopter during the invasion of 2 August 1990. The system later posed a possible threat to the U.S.-led coalition because Iraqi forces captured both HAWK and TOW missiles in Kuwait.