War Dog Article

Dogs of War Play Key Role in Iraq

by Gloria Hillard(NPR-National Public Radio)

March 3, 2008 · About 1,000 of the military personnel who have served on the front lines of the war in Iraq look quite different from the rest. They are dogs.

Mostly Belgian Malinois and German shepherds, some Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers, these war canines are trained to take bullets for their comrades, detect roadside bombs and sniff out other dangers.

Gloria Hillard, NPR
Parting with one’s dog is the hardest part of serving in the canine unit, says Lance Cpl. Justin Granado, pictured here with Jerry.

They typically serve the Department of Defense for 10 to 13 years, often with longer and more frequent deployments than their handlers. Three have been killed this time around in Iraq, and many more have been seriously wounded. Consequently, they sometimes need a little R and R. Camp Pendleton in southern California is where they get it.

“They deploy and they come back, that’s a rough time for them and they’re stressed out just the way we get stressed out,” explains Marine Sgt. Benjamin Maple, a trainer at Camp Pendleton’s canine unit. At his feet, “Corporal Jerry,” a Belgian Malinois, wags his tail.

Maple has been deployed to Iraq three times. He has seen a lot, he says, but when he talks about his other dog, Star, something changes in his eyes.

“I almost walked on an IED but he was ahead of me, he saved my life. He saved the lives of a couple Marines that were with me,” he says. “That dog has seen more combat, he puts me to shame. I actually named my daughter after him, I just had a baby girl and I got his name tattooed on my arm.”

Challenges of Dog Deployment

Dogs like Star are rotated from handler to handler throughout the years. The breaking of these well-established bonds is the toughest part of being in the canine unit, says Lance Cpl. Justin Granado.

“You come back, and they take you off that dog and put you with another dog, and you spend a lot of time and go through what you go through. It’s tough. He sleeps with you at night, and you do everything together. It’s like taking your best friend away,” he says.

Dogs are not new to battle. Four-legged soldiers and Marines have served the U.S. military in many capacities since World War I. The challenge in Iraq, however, is the weather. Blowing sand and scorching 130-degree heat take a toll on the dogs.

“It gets to the point where a lot of the ‘grunts’ help out,” Maple says. “You’re going on a 10-mile walking patrol, they’ll come up — ‘Hey, we’ll carry some water for your dog.’ ”

 

Gloria Hillard, NPR
Sgt. Benjamin Maple visits Arco at the kennel. He served in Iraq with Arco for two years and says he hopes to adopt him one day.

Morale Boost

There is more than explosive-detecting practicality to the dog forces. Canines can be morale boosters, Maple says.

“It gives them some kind of remembrance of back home, their dog back home that they haven’t seen. And it makes them a little bit happier,” he says.

The grassy obstacle course of Camp Pendleton’s canine training unit is a far cry from Iraq or even Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where the dogs undergo training.

Camp Pendleton is simply a peaceful intermediary. And soon the dogs — affectionately assigned ranks above those of their handlers — will return to Iraq.

Maple has a plan for 80-pound Arco, whom he served with in Iraq for two years. If and when the dog, currently recovering from an injury at Pendleton, makes it back from his next trip to the front lines, he says, he will bring the dog home.

If Arco comes up for adoption, as the dogs usually do, Maple says, “I’m going to be the first one calling: ‘Hey, I want that dog.’ ”

For original story go here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87800936

Camp Pendleton K9

Awesome video here, I served with both Sgt Gehring and Sgt Maple at Camp Pendleton. Both are fantastic handlers and great Marines. Quick story about Sgt Ben Maple below the video.

Sgt Maple and I went through the same military working dog handler’s course at Lackland Air Force base. I’ll never forget the first time he decoyed. We had been in class for about a month and a half and everyone had been taught the basics of decoying and started practicing. Everyone except Maple. Ben’s training dog was handler aggressive so to counter it Ben spent the time trying to build better rapport with his dog while the rest of the class decoyed for eachother in training. No one noticed that he never decoyed.

We had a beast of a training dog in our class named Chaos. Chaos was a prototype Belgian Malinois. He was one of the hardest hitting dogs I had ever seen. A big, strong, athletic dog that seemed to be a perfect working dog. However he had a difficult time certifying as a working dog because he consistently failed two key areas. He would not stop biting when commanded to, and he wouldn’t stop pursuing the suspect when commanded, he would keep going to get the bite and then they had a hard time getting him off the bite. If you ever decoyed for this dog you felt like a train wreck afterward and you certainly would not be standing up anymore.

Well our instructor asked Ben to decoy for Chaos one day not knowing Ben had not practiced decoying before. Ben didn’t mention he never decoyed because he figured it was simple. The only gear he used was a bite sleeve he put on his left arm. As Ben took off facing away from us he ran at half speed. He never looked back to see the dog coming at him he just ran at half speed with his back completely turned thinking the dog was trained to bite the gear and not the actual person.

Chaos was released and shot away like a bullet across the field-seriously, if there was a dog I thought that could go through a brick wall it would be him. As we watch we are saying quietly “present the sleeve” thinking Maple was going to present the sleeve just before Chaos jumped. The sleeve was never presented and Chaos hit him at full speed right in the middle of his back-direct hit.

Maple flew a good fifteen feet or so forward with Chaos’ jaws locked in his back. In unison we all started yell the command to release “out! out! out!.” But Chaos’ number one problem was not releasing on commmand and he stayed locked onto Maple. Maple finally had the sense to lift his arm up with the sleeve and shake it and Chaos ended up transitioning onto the sleeve releasing the flesh in his back.

He had hit Maple so hard we thought he might be seriously injured. However, other than a few canine holes and cuts he was ok. Once we found out he was alright, we laughed about it for the rest of the day-actually the rest of the three months we were there… Priceless

Obviously Maple has come a long way since then. He has done multiple tours in Iraq and has established himself as a premier handler in the Marines. He is also the recipient of a purple heart after taking shrapnel through his throat when a raodside bomb detonated next to his vehicle. I visited him before I left Camp Pendleton and he showed me a picture of him and about a dozen Marines he worked with while in Iraq. He mentioned out of all those Marines in the picture, he is the only one still alive today. Semper Fi

Rexy Too Sexy

As a handler it’s hard for me to start a blog dedicated to dog teams without talking about my own dog I handled, Rex E168. So I will get this tribute done and move on. No matter what military branch, police dept, security contracting company, or other organization you are apart of that utilizes dogs, every handler feels they have the best dog. Handler’s will brag all day about their dog’s capabilities and that one time they did something amazing. Well I am no different. However, what is different is that I can make a strong case as to why Rex, aka T-Rex, or Rexy too sexy, was one of the best dogs ever to serve his country.

Rex, a German Shepherd, was whelped(born) in April of 2001. He came to Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in the fall of 2002 fresh out of training from Lackland Air Force Base, only one and a half years old. He came when the Camp Pendleton K9 unit was in transition and starting from scratch. They had sent all their dogs away and asked for brand new ones. Rex and a MWD named Robby were the first two dogs sent. This is when we were assigned as a dog team. With the help of other handlers and trainers in the unit, we became a great team together.

Rex rarely missed during detection training, and he was very aggressive and obedient during patrol training. He had everything you could want in a working dog, strong drive, great health, obedient, picked up on training quickly, and just an all around fun dog to work with. Not to mention he was also a magnificent looking German Shepherd.

Now I know that the kind of dog I just described is nothing new to handlers, and that most can make their dogs look like the best trained dog in the world. What a handler is interested in is not if their dog can win blue ribbons and awards, but if it will perform when a real life situation presents itself. This is where the pretenders are separated from the contenders. Rex not only performed, he excelled.

Rex and I had the privilege of deploying with the first wave of Marine dog teams sent to Iraq for OIF II (Operation Iraqi Freedom). For the first few months we were the only dog team assigned to the infantry unit 2/2 out of Camp Lejeune, NC. The unit was based at Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah which is one of three cities that when looked on a map formed a triangle and was known as “the triangle of death.” This is about a half hour south of Baghdad and was a hotbed for insurgents.

Our first mission came about a week after getting assigned to the unit. Rex and I were tasked to assist in securing a building, known to have housed insurgents, with a squad of Marines during the middle of the night. The hummers were going to drop the Marines off in the brush a few hundred yards behind the building and drive tacticly back near the front of the building. As soon as the Marines in the rear were in place the hummers would go in from the front and the building would be secured. 

My assignment with Rex was to stay in the hummer until the building was secured and then search for explosives and munitions, sounded easy enough. However, when the hummers dropped the Marines off in the brush a few hundred yards behind the building, the Staff NCO in charge told me to come with them. I told him that I was ordered to stay in the hummer till they secured the area and he quickly snapped back “Screw that, you and the dog come with us!” Rex and I quickly jumped off the hummer and they sped away, and just like that Rex and I were with about a dozen Marines in the brush in the middle of the night, in the middle of an insurgent hotbed with no vehicles in sight.

It was the biggest rush I had ever had in my life. Off in the distance we can see the targeted building. The SNCO very quietly told us to spread out, be quiet, and to hurry into position. We cut a small barbed wire fence that blocked us and we were off running toward the building.

There are a lot of stray dogs in Iraq and as we moved toward the building some strays started to follow us, but when they saw Rex they tried to get close. Rex is an Alpha dog and to be sure he wouldn’t bark and give our position up I quickly put an easy mesh muzzle on him. However, as we ran I would notice Rex trying to swipe the muzzle off and it was slowing him down a little. So to keep up I bit the bullet and trusted my dog by taking off his muzzle and hoping he wouldn’t make a sound. 

As soon as I take it off I could tell he was thinking about squaring off on one of the dogs and maybe even barking so I slapped him very sternly on his snout and told him “quiet”, he never made another sound. Now we are almost in position but keeping us from moving forward is barbed constantino wire stacked about 5 feet high. The Marines are jumping over this thing easily but it posed a big challenge to Rex. Rex could easily clear the 5 feet wire but the wire wasn’t just stacked it was also thick. Another Marine helped by putting a rifle over the wire and we both tried compressing it as much as possible as quick as possible.

I knew Rex was going to need help clearing the fence so I stuck my knee out as he ran and jumped but didn’t get proper leverage off my knee and was about to land right on top of the wire when I quickly stuck my arms underneath him and helped throw him over as the other Marine grabbed his collar to pull him. Rex landed on the first layer of wire, which cut my arms up pretty good, but he barely made a peep as his stomach was cut.

Now we’re in position, the vehicles block the front and the Marines secure the building. During the commotion a possible insurgent escapes and starts running down the street. He was unarmed and so instead of shooting I sent Rex after him. My blood was pumping harder than ever cause as a handler you dream about your dog getting his first real bite. Rex darted after him like a bullet, however as the person passed under a flickering street light I noticed that it was a young kid around 10 or 12 years old. Rex would have hurt him badly, so I called Rex off. Dogs are like a bullet you can call back, just as they are trained to attack they are also trained to stop pursuit if commanded to, which is exactly what I told him to do. He reluctantly came back to me and we finished with the mission.

From maneuvering stealthily in the brush, to clearing barbed wire fences, getting called off on a pursuit, Rex had performed better than I had expected, and this was our first mission! Not your average first mission for most dog teams I would say but my confidence in Rex went through the roof and we went on to complete dozens of missions and patrols. We endured firefights together, bombs, and much more. Rex found large caches of munitions and explosives throughout his time overseas and was welcomed with open arms in the units he helped assist. Who knows the amount of lives he saved from finding so many explosives.  

After I got out of the Marines, Rex went on to do two more tours with his new handler. On his third tour he and his handler were at a checkpoint when they stepped on an IED(improvised explosive device). It was a direct hit. However, the bomb was buried so deep that the ground took most of the blast and threw Rex and his handler about 30 feet. Rex and his handler survived with minor wounds. Let me say that again, Rex and his handler were blown up and walked away from it-amazing. Overall Rex has spent about 25 months in Iraq. Rex not only performed admirably overseas, he also performed several presidential missions, and many other duties that earned many awards and letters of appreciation.

I realize in writing this that I could probably write a book on the dog and maybe will one day, but I had to get this post out because I miss him. When Rex first arrived at Pendleton he was one of about 10 dogs to arrive within a year to get Pendleton’s K9 unit up and running again. Now there is anywhere from 40-60 plus dogs at Pendleton and Rex and Bruno(the late Sgt Adam Cann’s mwd) are the only ones left from the original group sent to restore the kennels.

Rex has lived an amazing working dog’s life. I wish every handler can feel the amount in pride in their dog as I have in Rex.

Semper Fi

SGT Adam Leigh Cann-Semper Fi War Dog

Everyday we hear about many of or our men and women in our armed forces dying while fighting the war on terror. It has become so common to see headlines that say another military member has died that most of us have become numb to this kind of news. We glance at the headline and then move on. But to others those men and women mean so much more than just another statistic in the news. In their families and their hometowns they are a child, a sibling, an inspiration,  a teacher, a classmate, a teammate, a parent, and so many other meanings. Well Sgt. Adam Cann was one of my best friends.

Adam Cann is from Davie, Florida and he died on January 5th, 2006 in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, he was 23 years old. He came to Camp Pendleton in the fall of 2002. He followed his older brother Justin and enlisted in the Marines in 2000. He had done a year tour in Okinawa prior to coming to us at Pendleton and he brought both experience and leadership. He was tough and full of ambition and had a never back down mentality. In fact, we would often have to back him in confrontations he would get into over the weekends. However, if there were anyone I would want to be in a fighting hole with it would be Adam. They guy was as dedicated and loyal Marine I had ever met. He loved being a dog handler, but he loved being a Marine even more. When you love what you do you usually do well at it. Well Adam was an excellent Marine and a fantastic dog handler. He constantly pushed himself and others to be better.

Adam’s dog Bruno was not the ideal dog a handler would like to be partnered with. Bruno came to Pendleton as a young newly certified dog at the same time Adam arrived. Bruno displayed a submissive personality and didn’t seem to be very tough. We would often tease Adam about his “pet” dog. However, under Adam’s guidance, Bruno made great strides  and eventually Bruno became a tough, aggressive, very reliable dog. Through Adam’s hard work and persistence, Bruno and Adam had become one of Pendleton’s premier dog teams. Adam’s hard work rubbed off on everyone else as we all competed to be the best teams we could be.

Adam and Bruno went on to do two tours in Iraq. While overseas Adam was never one to stay at the base and work the gates. He volunteered for every mission and patrol he could. In fact, after Adam’s first tour ended he volunteered to immediately go back onto his second tour without taking much of a break. The guy just loved being in the action. In fact, the day Adam died, Adam wasn’t even supposed to be there either. He had just come off some missions in the city when he got back and saw that two other dog teams, Sgt Jesse Maldonaldo and Cpl Brendan Poelart, were about to go out on another one. They had told him he didn’t have to go but Adam refused and insisted he go with them. 

There was an Iraqi police recruiting event going on and they were tasked to help provide security to the area. There was a line of Iraqi’s waiting their turn to be interviewed outside of the compound Adam was helping secure when somehow a suicide bomber had snuck into the middle of the line. The bomber set himself off and killed many of the Iraqi’s in the line and wounded dozens more. Sgt Maldonaldo was towards the front of the line, Cpl Poelart was toward the rear and Adam was in the middle with no one between him and the bomber and took the full hit of the blast. A US soldier was also killed and many others wounded including Jesse and Brendan. However, someone who wasn’t killed was Adam’s dog Bruno. Bruno survived the blast with minor wounds. As Adam lay there Bruno laid next to him and put his head on Adam’s chest. Bruno is still apart of the Camp Pendleton unit today.

I remember all the great times Adam, myself, and all the Marines had together over those couple years. Adam, myself, and another good friend of ours Sgt. Jason Cannon all loved football and every Sunday we would go to a bar in Oceanside called “Rookies” to watch all of our favorite teams and talk smack to one another. Adam was a die hard Miami Dolphin fan, being from Northern California I am a Oakland Raider fan, and Jason from Tennessee was a die heard Titan fan. We would each wear our team jerseys and watch football all day. As good as a Marine Adam was he was just as good as a friend. Prior to Adam leaving on his last tour I had just gotten out of the Marines and was in a transition period. Adam had shared an apartment with Sgt Maldonaldo and Maldonaldo’sgirlfriend. He allowed me to stay in his room when he left until I found a place to stay. I had just started moving all of my things to a new place when I found out about him. I helped his brother Justin pack all of his belongings up. Ask any Marine who knew him, and they would all describe him in similar ways, he was a true Marine, loved all the action, and you could count on him with your life.

Adam is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.