War dogs in Iraq.

Submitted by Doc Tater (United States), Feb 25, 2008 at 12:08

Ianus, it's good to see you en blog again.

You know me by another name, Ianus. I've always been greatly impressed by your knowledge of Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Cypriot history. Interesting that this week you pop up again, and the Turks have just moved 1000's of troops into Iraqi Kurdistan. We could spend hours....

But this is about dogs of war.

Back around Christmas there was a wonderful newspeice on cnn.com about a bomb-sniffing dog handled by a US military man, who were both blown up by an IED. I can't recall if it was in Iraq or Pakistan, but it was one of those two places. The soldier died, but the dog survived. When medics came, the dog wouldn't let them near his human friend, and it was with some difficulty that they controlled the injured dog sufficiently that the soldier could be reached by first responders. He was still trying to protect his master, in spite of having just been severely injured himself.

The dog went back to the US, was treated, and got to meet the family of his soldier partner for the first time. There is video of him limping around an obstacle course during his rehab period, and video of him with the children in the fallen soldier's family. The dead doldier's father said that when the dog visited their family, it was as though part of his son came home with the dog. I'm sure that is true.

With some difficulty, the soldier's family was able to convince the government to allow the dog to be discharged to live with them. They got to enjoy Christmas together.

I can't tell you how to find a link to that story, but if you find it I'm sure you'll love it as I did. It was my favorite Christmas story this year.

FYI: If you, or any of the other readers, want a wonderful archive of photos depicting dogs of war with US servicemen, you can find it on the Web site of the US Naval Institute.

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