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War Dogs
An Australian and His Dog Go to War in Afghanistan
by Shane Bryant with Tony Park
Macmillan Australia
“There was a dog?” President Obama asked, after meeting the squadron commander of SEAL Team 6, the group that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a New Yorker article published last week. “I want to meet that dog.”
“If you want to meet the dog, Mr. President, I advise you to bring treats,” the commander joked.
Obama walked into the next room and petted Cairo, the only member of the team whose name has been declassified, though — per Secret Service order — the dog had to remain muzzled.
Cairo, like many miliary dogs, is a Belgian Malinois, a breed similar in coloring and appearance to German shepherds, but smaller and lighter-boned. They are intimidating and intelligent, perfect for unpredictable and dangerous Special Ops missions.
He is one of 650 dogs in deployment areas overseas and one of 2,700 dogs in the military worldwide. Marines began a pilot program in Afghanistan, starting with only nine bomb-sniffing dogs at the start of the war. The number rose to 350 and has now nearly doubled.
This growing canine presence is because they have proven themselves to be invaluable to the war effort. Their duties are as varied and complex as their human counterparts; they are trained to sniff out explosives, track enemies, even parachute and rappel.
Military handler Mike Forsythe and his dog Cara recently broke a world record for tandem skydiving when they parachuted from 30,100 feet together, both wearing oxygen masks.
Another world record was set when Murphy, an English springer spaniel, was the first dog to be trained and used for the sole purpose of identifying illegal cellphones. Murphy can detect a certain scent emitted by phony mobiles. The dog sniffs out contraband at prisons in the United Kingdom. Murphy can also distinguish between an officer’s and an inmate’s phone, as well as track phones hidden in walls or wrapped in plastic bags. Dog noses are that sensitive.
But in war zones, dogs are so vital that they even carry out solo missions. These brave animals will parachute alone if the jump is into water or scout out dangerous locations with a camera to test out if the coast is clear.
Just like Marines, dogs get outfitted in top-of-the-line gear including a “canine tactical suit” designed by Canadian company K9 Storm. The vest weighs under 2 pounds, but holds a high-tech night-vision camera system, designed for tunnels, caves and SWAT operations, as well as rappelling, parachuting and fast-roping components. The waterproof vest also allows for an easy range of motion so that the dog can attack and apprehend. The Navy SEALs were reported to have spent $86,000 on four such vests — and it’s likely that Cairo was wearing one the night of the bin Laden raid.
Some dogs even wear heat-seeking night vision “doggles” that are so powerful that they can detect the beating of a person’s heart through a concrete wall.
But like any good warrior, the gear is nothing without extensive training. In fact, the dogs at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, which houses the Working Dog School, leave the program “only with a collar,” said the base’s spokesperson Gerry Proctor.
Lackland is responsible for most military dog training. Cairo was not trained at Lackland Air Force Base because Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has their own dog training program, much smaller and less public than Lackland’s.
Though the most predominant breeds are Belgian Malinois (like Cairo) and German shepherds, Labrador retrievers and retriever mixes are common as well. All dogs are bred for their bloodlines from other working and war dogs to make for the most perfect and intelligent animals.
Three types of dogs are trained on the base: dual purpose dogs, which have patrol and detection capabilities and are often used as police dogs; explosive dogs, trained to sniff out bombs; and combat tracker dogs, or Marine Corps unit canines, capable of detecting human scent and tracking it.
The training, depending on the level, takes between 90 days and seven months. Only about half of the dogs make it through training, when they are required to be 90% effective. Those that are anything less are often offered to the TSA or municipal police departments.
A dog’s sense of smell is 40 times more sensitive than a human’s and despite advances in technology, nothing man-made has been created that is better at detecting bombs or hidden enemies.
Proctor quotes Army Sgt. 1st Class Regina Johnson, who works with many dogs, when he describes how amazing their sense of smell is: “You know when you walk into a McDonald’s, you smell the french fries and the hamburgers. A dog would go in and may smell the hamburger but its also smelling the yeast in the bread, and the sesame seeds on the buns, the spice blends in the mustard.”
Shane Bryant, author of the memoir “War Dogs” that was released last year in Australia, writes firsthand what it’s like to be a contractor in Afghanistan helping out a Special Forces team with his dog, Ricky. It’s one of the few books written about the bond between handler and military dogs (publishers take note: Cairo needs a memoir, stat).
In 2006, Bryant took a job in Afghanistan as a civilian K9 bomb detection contractor for the US Army, searching for IEDs planted by the Taliban. Bryant describes a day he and Ricky were called to check out a suspicious road.
“ ‘Send up K9 over,’ a voice squawked over the radio. I recognized my call sign immediately. The driver said, ‘OK, you’re on.’ ‘Right-o, Ricky, let’s go, mate.’
“My mouth was dry and my heart started beating faster as I climbed out of the turtleback. Ricky jumped down after me and I grabbed hold of his leash. I walked along the line of vehicles, aware of eyes on me all the way. The commander waved at Ricky and me as we walked by his vehicle. ‘F – – -, boy, I hope we don’t miss anything,’ I whispered to Ricky.”
Luckily, they didn’t. Working a zigzag pattern, Ricky sniffed the road and declared it all-clear. Ricky, Bryant writes, “had no idea what dangers might lie ahead; he was only looking forward to finding something so that he could play with his ball.”
There is a unique bond between dog and handler, who spend around 10 to 12 hours a day together, if not more. They’re relationship relies on a life and death struggle.
“The handler relies on that dog to save his life. That handler also relies on that dog to save the lives of those in the patrol behind it. They have a very close bond, and the dog’s performance is not only about saving lives but also on the symbiosis between the two. They rely on each other,” Proctor said.
Ordinary pet owners were so taken by the Cairo’s story that applications for military dog adoptions skyrocketed. Following the raid on bin Laden, Lackland Air Force Base was flooded with 400 applications in a two-week period. Normally, they receive that number in a year.
Still, many of those on the wait list will never get a dog. Only about 350 dogs go up for adoption each year, and each is tested for their aggressiveness and ability to transition into non-war-zone living.
So, what about Cairo?
The SEALs were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor bestowed upon any unit, though Cairo, alas, didn’t get a medal. His future is a military secret. Will he report to active duty? Will he be adopted?
Fans have a few suggestions. “Cairo didn’t get an award,” wrote one blogger from site Dogfiles, “but we think he’d prefer a big juicy steak, anyway.”