Soldier Dogs (40 page)

Finally, to all the military working dog handlers who let me into their lives, and to their dogs: You have gained my utmost respect and admiration.

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ergeant Stubby, World War I hero, lives on at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
MARIA GOODAVAGE

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his photo from World War II’s Battle of Peleliu is a favorite of former Vietnam dog handler Robert Kollar. To him there’s something about the handler, Marine Corporal William Scott, and his Doberman pinscher, Prince, that captures everything about the bond between wartime handler and dog.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES

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og alerts to the scent of a homemade explosive (HME) at the Inter-Service Advanced Skills K-9 (IASK) Course in Yuma, Arizona.
JARED DORT

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he author “catching” a dog at Lackland Air Force Base—Ground Zero for dog and handler training.
ROBIN JERSTAD

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new dog draftee at Lackland wears a bucket around his head after undergoing surgery that will prevent the fatal effects of a syndrome called bloat. The bucket keeps him from interfering with the surgical site.
ROBIN JERSTAD

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avy Master-at-Arms Second Class Joshua Raymond and Rex P233 learn to work off leash together for the first time at the IASK course. It’s a potentially life-saving capability that enables dogs to follow their noses better, and it keeps handlers and others farther from explosives.
MARIA GOODAVAGE

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arine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, who runs the IASK course, gives Raymond some tips on searching for IEDs.
MARIA GOODAVAGE

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aid exercises at the IASK course take place in very realistic settings and come with loud sounds of ammo, IED, and mortar blasts.
JARED DORT

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f this doesn’t prepare you for Afghanistan, nothing will,” Air Force Technical Sergeant Adam Miller says of the IASK course. On this day, in 114-degree heat, Miller has to carry his dog, Tina M111, to safety after she was “shot” during an exercise.
JARED DORT

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hat’s in a name? Ask Davy N532, a female dog whose name does not match her gender. Oddball names are not uncommon among military working dogs, whose breeders, usually from Europe, name them. “I trust her with my life. If I didn’t trust her, I wouldn’t be here,” Army Staff Sergeant Marcus Bates says of his Belgian Malinois, Davy N532, during their deployment in Afghanistan.
MARCUS BATES

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ou don’t have to be a big dog to be a soldier dog. Lars J274, a Jack Russell terrier with a Napoleon complex, is the perfect size for sniffing out bombs in submarines.
U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY PETTY OFFICER SECOND CLASS PAUL D. WILLIAMS