War Dogs
Page 26
10.Stanley Coren and Sarah Hodgson, Understanding Your Dog For Dummies (Hoboken: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2007), 103; see also http://www.dummies.com/how
-to/content/understanding-a-dogs-sense-of-smell.html.
11.Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know (New York: Scribner, 2009), 124.
12.Andrea Seabrook, “Why Do Animals’ Eyes Glow In The Dark?” NPR.org, October 31, 2008, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96414364.
13.“How Well Do Dogs See At Night?” Science Daily, November 9, 2007.
14.Horowitz, Inside of a Dog, 125.
15.Irit Gazit and Joseph Terkel, “Domination of Olfaction over Vision in Explosives Detection by Dogs,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 82, no. 1 (June 3, 2003): 65–73.
16.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has an extremely powerful dog program. In many ways they have set the recent standard of war dog training. In the mid-2000s the US Marines sent a small contingency of dog handlers to train with IDF handlers. One of the more revolutionary training methods those handlers brought back and made standard was the “off-leash capability.”
17.Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Richardson, British War Dogs (London: Skeffington & Sons, Ltd., 1920), 79.
18.Michael G. Lemish, War Dogs (Washington, DC: Brassey’s Inc., 1996), 207.
19.Stanley Coren, How Dogs Think (New York: Free Press, 2004), 37.
20.Maxwell Riddle, Dogs Through History (Fairfax: Denlinger’s Publisher, 1987), 174.
21.Ibid., 174–75.
22.Fairfax Downey, History of Dogs for Defense (New York: Dogs for Defense, Inc., 1955), 1.
23.Ibid., 2.
24.Caroline Tiger, General Howe’s Dog (New York: Chamberlin Bros., 2005), 95.
25.Dogs weren’t captured in early photography because they weren’t able to sit still for the time it took for the camera to flash and capture the subject. (Which explains why in so many Civil War–era battlefield photos the dogs appear so blurry.) It’s believed that the first photo of a living dog wasn’t taken until 1840, and that photo was of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s dog, Flush; the image was captured by photographer Nicholas Henneman. Grace Glueck, “A Multitude of Dogs, From Cuddly to Cranky,” New York Times, February 1, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/01
/arts/photography-review-a-multitude-of-dogs-from-cuddly-to-cranky.html.
26.Lemish, War Dogs, 18.
27.Somewhere close to 7,500 were killed in battle (though some believe that number to be too low given the relatively low loss overall and the extreme danger of their tasks).
28.“Dogs of Battle and Dogs of Mercy,” Vanity Fair, September 1916, http://www
.oldmagazinearticles.com/WW1_dogs_pdf.
29.Downey, History of Dogs for Defense, 16.
30.Ibid.
31.Ibid., 65.
32.Ibid., 21–22.
33.Clayton G. Going, Dogs at War (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1945), 9.
34.According to the US War Dogs Association
35.Lemish, War Dogs, 81. Author cited from a report on the dogs’ progress in New Guinea issued on December 6, 1943, written by 2nd Lieutenant Robert Johnson, the unit’s senior officer.
36.“Mentioned in Dispatches,” New York Times, January 23, 1944.
37.Fairfax Downey, Dogs of Destiny (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1949), 171.
38.Mark Derr, A Dog’s History of America (New York: North Point Press, 2004), 293.
39.Downey, History of Dogs for Defense, 110.
40.Lemish, War Dogs, 269.
41.Ibid., 287.
42.Ibid., 185.
43.Ibid., 197.
44.“Medical Innovator: Finding New and Effective Ways to Treat Wounded Troops: Q&A with Lieutenant General Eric B. Schoomaker Surgeon General US Army,” MMT 15, no. 3 (May 3, 2011).
45.Ibid.
46.Michelle Tan, “DoD Says Amputations Reached Wartime High,” Army Times, March 14, 2012, http://www.armytimes.com/news/2012/03/army-amputations-reach-war
-time-high-031212w/.
47.Andrew W. Lehren, “Calculating the Human Cost of the War in Afghanistan,” New York Times, August 21, 2012, http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21
/calculating-the-human-cost-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/.
48.Department of Defense, “Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) U.S. Casualty Status,” Fatalities as of April 8, 2014, 10 a.m. EDT, and “Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) U.S. Casualty Status,” fatalities as of April 8, 2014, 10 a.m. EDT, http://www.defense.gov/NEWS/casualty.pdf.
49.James Dao and Andrew W. Lehren, “In Toll of 2,000, New Portrait of Afghan War,” New York Times, August 21, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/war
-in-afghanistan-claims-2000th-american-life.html?_r=0.
50.Peter W. Singer, “Robots at War: The New Battlefield,” The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2009, http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/essays/robots-war-new-battlefield.
51.Joseph Giordono, “New Army Program Aims to Put Soldiers on Higher Alert for IEDs” Stars and Stripes, May 25, 2005.
52.James Dao, “Afghan War’s Buried Bombs Put Risk in Every Step,” New York Times, July 14, 2009.
53.Formerly the Joint IED Defeat Task Force founded in 2004: http://www.global
security.org/military/agency/dod/jieddo.htm.
54.Spencer Ackerman, “$19 Billion Later, Pentagon’s Best Bomb-Detector Is a Dog,” Danger Room blog, Wired, October 21, 2010, http://www.wired.com/danger
room/2010/10/19-billion-later-pentagon-best-bomb-detector-is-a-dog/.
55.Ibid.
56.Statement By Lieutenant General Michael D. Barbero, Director Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, United States Department of Defense, before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, September 20, 2012, https://www.jieddo.mil/content
/docs/20120920_JIEDDO_Statement_for_the_Record.pdf.
57.Otto Kreisher, “IEDs Replace Artillery As Battlefield’s Biggest Killer, JIEDDO General Says,” Breaking Defense, October 17, 2012, http://defense.aol.com/2012/10/17
/ieds-replace-artillery-as-battlefields-biggest-killer-jieddo-g/.
58.Associated Press, “Bomb Explodes in Parked Plane,” Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, FL), March 8, 1972; Richard Witkin, “Bomb Found on Jet Here After $2-Million Demand,” New York Times, March 8, 1972; Richard Witkin, “T.W.A. Jet Damaged in Las Vegas Blast,” New York Times, March 9, 1972; “Nixon Orders Tighter Air Security,” Daytona Beach Morning Journal, March 10, 1972; “President Orders Tighter Security by U.S. Airlines,” special edition, New York Times, March 10, 1972; Robert Lindsey, “Air Security Tightened to Meet Order by Nixon,” special edition, New York Times, March 11, 1972; ABC News, aired March 8, 1972; “1972: TWA Jet Explodes at Las Vegas Airport,” On This Day, BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk
/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/8/newsid_4268000/4268151.stm.
59.“Bomb on TWA Plane,” ABC News, aired March 8, 1972, http://abcnews.go.com
/Archives/video/march-1972-bomb-twa-plane-13078635.
60.Ken Dilanian, “Good Dog? Homeland Security May Want You,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/17/nation/la-na-dhs
-dogs-20100717. The Los Angeles Times article doesn’t mention it, but at the time they were reviewed in 2006–2007 they were under a different—and much longer—name: “On October 1, 2009, the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Canine Training Program and the Office of Field Operations (OFO) Canine Training Program were merged to create the Customs and Border Protection Canine Training Program,” http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/canine-program.
61.“TSA Oversight Part 2: Airport Perimeter Security,” S
erial No. 112–75, July 13, 2011, http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/7-13-11-Subcomm
ittee-on-National-Security-Homeland-Defense-and-Foreign-Operations-Hearing
-Transcript.pdf.
62.Melissa Mertl, “Dogs Can Smell Land Mines, But Humans Cannot. Sensitive New Chemical Sniffers Could Fix That,” Discover Magazine, September 1, 2001, http://discovermagazine.com/2001/sep/feattech#.UyzFiV5RHyw.
63.Henry Fountain, “Devices Go Nose to Nose With Bomb-Sniffer Dogs,” New York Times, October 15, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/science/explosives
-detectors-aim-to-go-nose-to-nose-with-sniffer-dogs.html.
64.Phone interview with Staff Sergeant Taylor Rogal, October 10, 2012.
chapter 6: the road to war leads through Yuma
1.“In detection work, a false response is when the dogs exhibits their defined final response in an area where the target odor is not present.” Sometimes the cause of a false response is easy to assess and wouldn’t be counted against the dog during certification or training. During my time at the Yuma course I watched dogs alert on spots where there were no buried aids. Often times there would be lingering odor from training exercise from days before. Other times though a dog will alert because he knows if he does, he’ll get his toy. A handler has to know his dog’s tells well enough to be able to determine the difference. Steven D. Nicely, “Record Keeping,” K9 Consultants of America, http://www.k9consultantsofamerica.com/training_info
rmation/RECORD%20KEEPING.htm.
2.Michael G. Lemish, War Dogs (Washington, DC: Brassey’s Inc., 1996), 208.
3.Ibid., 208–211. The British used Labrador retrievers for their trackers; their temperaments were more easygoing, and the British found the breed better suited for the work.
4.Phone interview with Charlie Hardesty, June 2012.
5.Phone interview with Gunny Knight, April 17, 2012.
6.Interview with US Army Sergeant George Jay and Army Specialist William Vidal (from Bagram Airbase), June 20, 2012.
7.John F. Burns, “On Way to Baghdad Airport, Death Stalks Main Road,” New York Times, May 9, 2005, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/international/middle
east/29road.html?pagewanted=all.
8.Sebastian Junger, War (New York: Twelve, 2010) 144.
9.Robert Rosenblum, The Dog in Art: From Rococo to Post Modernism (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1988), 9.
chapter 7: the fallen
1.I first came across this quotation in June 2012. It was listed as canine handler Sean Brazas’s favorite quotation on his personal Facebook profile—he was killed in action in Afghanistan in May 2012.
2.A handler at Camp Lejeune, who wished to remain unnamed, confirmed the events as Josh’s father described them to me, relaying the details as they were circulating at Camp Lejeune, II-MEF home station.
3.When the military pronounces someone killed “during combat operations,” it makes for an entirely vague and unsatisfying qualifying of the account of someone’s death. It’s the description that came with the military death notices for Coffey, Brazas, and Ashley.
4.Mike Joseph, “37th TRG Honors Belgian Malinois: MWD Gets Heroism Medal for Action under Fire,” Air Education and Training Command (News), September 27, 2012, http://www.aetc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123319933.
5.Chuck Roberts, “Working Dog Reunites with Handler During Bedside Hospital Visit,” US Army News, September 24, 2012, http://www.army.mil/article/87806
/Working_dog_reunites_with_handler_during_bedside_hospital_visit/.
6.Andrew deGrandpre, “3 MARSOC Marines, Dog Die in Afghan Blaze,” Marine Corps Times, August 3, 2011.
7.“Sgt. Christopher Wrinkle Died Trying To Save Dog,” YouTube post of WGAL Channel 8, Local News Report, August 8, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga-qJLi8pmc.
8.Thomas Lynch, The Undertaking (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 21.
9.Email correspondence from Captain Katie Barry sent in early October 2012 from her new station in Germany.
10.Jeff Donn, “Soldiers Find Loyal Companions in War Dogs,” Associated Press, NBC, August 12, 2007, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20151076/ns/health-pet_health/t
/soldiers-find-loyal-comrades-war-dogs/#.U3GQHC9RHyx. Some records incorrectly state that Bruno was killed in this attack. Master Sergeant (Ret.) Joel Burton confirmed that this was not the case. He wrote to me on September 27, 2012, that three dogs were wounded in this attack—Flapoor, Bruno, and Kevin all survived. The 341st Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base is responsible for keeping the records as mandated in The Robby Law. Burton, who was stationed at Lackland for eight years, was responsible for maintaining this document that tracks MWDs (from all branches) as he puts it, “from cradle to grave.”
11.Corporal Micah Snead, “Military Working Dog, Marine Stick Together Through Battle, Injuries,” Leatherneck.com, February 7, 2006, http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-26186.html.
12.Interview with Charlie Hardesty, March 2012.
13.“Five Camp Lejeune Marines Killed in Iraq,” Associated Press, http://www.milit
arytimes.com/valor/soldier/1459367. No publication date is listed, but given that it was a wire story, it was likely January 2006.
14.Mike Dowling, “SGT Adam Leigh Cann—Semper Fi War Dog,” post from his now defunct blog K-9 Pride, April 22, 2008, http://k9pride.wordpress.com/2008/04/22
/sgt-adam-leigh-cann-semper-fi-war-dog/.
15.Mike Pitts, “First Marine Scout Dog Killed in Action,” photographer and publication unknown, 1966, at US War Dog Memorial Site, http://uswardogsmemorial
.org/id16.html.
16.“Video: LCpl Ferrell and Zora,” American Forces Network Afghanistan, DVIDS video, 7:54, taken June 25, 2012, http://www.dvidshub.net/video/148955/lcpl
-ferrell-and-zora#.URcd6eh9_K4.
17.Master Sergeant (Ret.) Joel Burton confirmed that this was an accurate statement.
18.I verified this number against two different sites, my own blog posts, and checked it with two different sources who had worked within the 341st at Lackland Air Force Base. This number does not include Special Operations or Special Forces dogs. I believe that if it did the number would increase significantly.
19.The Robby Law, Bill H.R. 5314, http://save-a-vet.org/d7/sites/default/files/docs
/GOV-RobbysLaw-HRBILL.pdf.
20.From my study of these reports dating from CY00–CY11, with few exceptions, when the status of death was qualified as KIA, it was not followed with a notation on the cause of death—bullet, IED, etc.
21.Interview with Master Sergeant (Ret.) Joel Burton, January 2013.
22.Obituary for Joshua Brandon Farnsworth, MailTribune.com, July 8, 2007, www
.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070708/NEWS04/307089996&c
id=sitesearch.
23.Phone interviews with Sean Lulofs, September 20, 2012, and October 1, 2012.
24.C. J. Chivers, “Cataloging Wounds of War to Help Heal Them,” New York Times, May 17, 2012.
25.Ibid.
chapter 8: wounds and healing
1.“U.S. Soldier Charged with Murder in Iraq Shooting Deaths,” CNN.com, May 12, 2009, http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/12/iraq.soldiers.killed/.
2.Rod Nordland, “Report Finds Lapses in Handling of G.I. Accused of Murders in Iraq,” New York Times, October 20, 2009.
3.Luis Martinez and Martha Raddatz, “Camp Liberty Shooting: Alleged Shooter’s Dad Says Soldier ‘Just Broke,’” ABC.com, May 12, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com
/Politics/story?id=7565251.
4.James Dao and Paul von Zielbauer, “Among 5 Killed, a Mender of Heartache and a Struggling Private,” New York Times, May 17, 2009; Ernesto Londoño, “U.S. Soldier in Iraq Kills 5 Comrades at
Stress Clinic,” Washington Post, May 12, 2009.
5.William Krol, “Training the Combat and Operational Stress Control Dog: An Innovative Modality for Behavioral Health,” United States Army Medical Department Journal: Canine Assisted Therapy in Military Medicine (April–June 2012): 46.
6.Bushra Juhi, “58,000 Dogs Killed in Baghdad in Campaign to Curb Attacks by Strays,” The Washington Post, July 11, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp
-dyn/content/article/2010/07/10/AR2010071002235.html.
7.Nordland, “Report Finds Lapses in Handling of G.I. Accused of Murders in Iraq.”
8.Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass, “Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide,” Policy Brief by Center for New American Security, October 2011. The policy brief’s authors got these numbers from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was of particular interest that the authors made a special note in the report that they intentionally “refrain from using the phrase ‘commit suicide . . .’ because the word ‘commit’ portrays suicide as a sin or crime . . . [and] contributes to a stigma that prevents individuals from getting help.”
9.Tina Rosenberg, “For Veterans, a Surge of New Treatments for Trauma,” New York Times, September 26, 2012.
10.Steve Bentley, “A Short History of PTSD: From Thermopylae to Hue Soldiers Have Always Had A Disturbing Reaction To War,” VVA Veteran (March–April 2005; originally published January 1991).
11.Ibid.
12.In 1871, after conducting his clinical study of 300 Civil War veterans, Dr. Jacob Mendes Da Costa wrote a paper outlining that such symptoms were the manifested stress a soldier weathered in the battlefield.
13.Caroline Alexander, “The Shock of War,” Smithsonian Magazine, September 2010.
14.“Beside Freud’s Couch, a Chow Named Jofi,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703886904576031
63012408736.
15.Ernest Harold Baynes, Animal Heroes of the Great War (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1925), 198.
16.Ibid.
17.Dorothy Harrison Eustis, “The Seeing Eye,” Saturday Evening Post, November 5, 1927. To no great surprise the Germans, who proved ahead of the canine curve in most instances, were the first to use guide dogs, training them with innovation and then assigning them to soldiers who had been blinded in battle by mustard gas.