fuck yeah military with puppies!

allcreatures: Captain Owen Beynon Brown from the King’s Troop...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:16:39 -0400

Captain Owen Beynon Brown from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery holds his dog Lord Percy, a resident at the barracks up for Tango his horse to greet, at Wellington Barracks in London, Thursday, April 19, 2012. The King’s Troop on Thursday were preparing for an inspection in Hyde Park, in preparation for 2012 ceremonial roles in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Trooping the Colour and London 2012 Olympics.

Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP (via Day in Pictures - The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California)

fastcompany: These are some of my favorite images from the new...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:00:53 -0400

fastcompany:

These are some of my favorite images from the new book Soldier Dogs. There are more pictures in our slideshow today.

Military Working Dogs play a crucial part in America’s armed services. The best known “Soldier Dog,” Cairo, put crucial canine skills to work in the SEAL Team Six operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. Other Military Working Dogs serve as everything from bomb sniffers to troop companions to search and rescue dogs (and also serve in darker roles, such as duty at Guantanamo Bay). Their handlers and trainers, devoted dog lovers down to a man, form an unusually close-knit fraternity within the military.

Soldier Dogs: The Four-Legged Heroes Of Iraq And Afghanistan

giraffeswearingscarves: Eslinger and Smoke, reunited at last....

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:58:19 -0500

giraffeswearingscarves:

Eslinger and Smoke, reunited at last. Now it is Smoke’s turn to help rescue Eslinger. (Photo: Facebook)

awww!

Photo

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:30:41 -0500

mothernaturenetwork: Military dogs suffer from PTSDAfter combat...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:09:01 -0500

mothernaturenetwork:

Military dogs suffer from PTSD
After combat and other dangerous situations, dogs can suffer emotional trauma just like soldiers.

premiereguerremondialeetdeux: This is one of my favourite...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:53:32 -0500

premiereguerremondialeetdeux:

This is one of my favourite photos from the book. This man is amazing! And most definitely a looker!

A sailor greets a dog at Charlton kennels. After the war,...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:06:31 -0500

A sailor greets a dog at Charlton kennels. After the war, soldiers who fell in love with dogs while fighting in Europe hated leaving them behind, so the Blue Cross set up quarantine kennels to bring them back to the UK. In the second world war, these were reopened for the dogs of refugees fleeing Europe.

A dog being treated by vet and nurse. This dog was born on the...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:05:38 -0500

A dog being treated by vet and nurse. This dog was born on the battlefield and adopted by a French Howitzer battery. He was injured twice and treated by the Blue Cross vets who bandaged his lacerated ear. The charity treated over 10,000 dogs in its French hospitals during World War One.

During the conflict soldiers became incredibly attached to the...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:04:42 -0500

During the conflict soldiers became incredibly attached to the animals with whom they experienced the terror and hardship of the battlefield. One army captain writing from Belgium in March 1916, on receipt of a Blue Cross veterinary chest, said: “Many things are sent to my men, but these are the first things I have ever got for my horses, and could they speak I suppose they’d express gratitude, and for the men I really believe all my chaps would rather have something for their “long-faced chums,” as they call them, than for themselves.”

Painting of a wounded dog done by Horace Vernet. Many regiments from Napoleonic wars had their dogs...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:03:43 -0500

Painting of a wounded dog done by Horace Vernet.

Many regiments from Napoleonic wars had their dogs following them. Some of them even became mascots or heroes.

( grenadierfifer )

3rd Batt 5th Marines. In sangin,Helmand Afghanistan. Cpl Rivera...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:03:34 -0500

3rd Batt 5th Marines. In sangin,Helmand Afghanistan. Cpl Rivera and bingo after a long working day.

npr: The dog of slain Petty Officer Jon Tumilson refused to...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:25:04 -0400

npr:

The dog of slain Petty Officer Jon Tumilson refused to leave his side during the Navy SEAL’s funeral earlier this week in Rockford, Iowa. The heartbreaking photo taken by his cousin, Lisa Pembleton, shows Tumilson’s dog Hawkeye lying by the casket. (via The Daily Treat: Animal Planet)

School kids bring home Alice the Afghan straySo the world has...

Sat, 28 May 2011 08:44:10 -0400

School kids bring home Alice the Afghan stray
So the world has been set alight with war-dog fever (it’s about time). There were reports this week that over 400 inquiries about adopting retired MWDs have been made in the three weeks since news came out about Cairo, the dog who was allegedly a part of the U.S. Navy SEAL team that got bin Laden. And while this is nothing but happy news for the military and its service dogs — a bunch of kids from Lebanon Indiana were way ahead of the trend. These middle school students helped raise enough money to bring Alice, an Afghan stray home to Indiana so she could be reunited with Captain Matt Taylor, who lives in their town and was one of the soldiers who looked after the puppy while on deployment in Afghanistan.

Alice, like most dogs in Afghanistan, had rough start to life before she found a home with the group of U.S. Marines who adopted her. Capt. Taylor says that she was emaciated — a measly 10 to 15 pounds — and pocked with scars from scuffles with other dogs.

But she made herself at home, offering love and comfort in exchange for room and board — quickly becoming more than just the unit’s mascot:

“You come home and it’s hot or cold or you are wet or tired and there is always somebody who is real happy to see you,” Taylor said. “You’re not going to get a hug and a kiss from a Marine when you come back from patrol, but there is always a little girl like this to come up and give you a lick, put her head on her lap and remind you there is something nice in the world too.”

But when the news came that the unit was getting a bomb-sniffing dog, there was no other option — Alice would have to go. But no one had the heart to turn her out, so Capt. Taylor and his fellow soldiers started to drum up support with a website, the money from the Lebanon middle school, raised one dollar at a time, and the combined assistance of a British non-profit that offered the dog safe passage from Dubai back to the States. But Taylor took a chance on getting Alice to the airport — putting her in a taxi for a 14 hour drive with nothing but the assurances of the enthusiastic driver. But Alice arrived in Indiana safe and sound where Taylor joined her a few months later.

Alice and Capt. Taylor paid a visit to the school last week so the pair could properly give thanks, and so the students could see what their good efforts — and maybe their allowance money — was able to accomplish.

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and my Marines’ hearts because this little girl helped us through some hard times, Taylor said. “[Alice] was a really sweet reminder of what is good and good things that can happen when people like you come together.”

(source)

Bounding into action with the dogs of warNone of their...

Mon, 16 May 2011 08:23:22 -0400

Bounding into action with the dogs of war
None of their identities are known, of course, but one member of the team of US navy Seals that killed Osama bin Laden has become the star: the dog. Since being mentioned in the first reports of the raid, details of this elite animal have become as sought after as the man it helped to catch.

What breed was it, for example? (Alsatian, malinois, or possibly a labrador, which is popular with the US marines in Afghanistan. British forces prefer spaniels.) Did it actually rappel down from the helicopter? (It seems so, yes, with help.) What was it wearing? (A bullet-proof vest with a two-way audio-visual communications system.) Did it have titanium-tipped teeth, as some papers claim? (Don’t be silly.) What does it eat? (Carpaccio of evil-doer, twice a day.)

Yet the use of dogs in war is far from new. According to legend, a dog fought for the Greeks against the Persians at the battle of Marathon in 490BC. The Greek historian Strabo also reports that ancient Britons used their hunting dogs for waging war. More often, though, dogs have been used as trackers, messengers or guards.

The German shepherd owes its popularity almost entirely to its success in the first world war. Having created it deliberately as a guard dog, the breeder Max von Stephanitz cunningly offered them to the German army for free. By 1918, 48,000 were in service, and became so popular they were taken home by British and US forces after the war (the name “alsatian” was hastily devised, to shed their association with the enemy).

Somewhat shockingly, a unit of “anti-tank dogs” was also used, by Soviet forces during the second world war. They were expected to run at enemy tanks with bombs strapped on their backs, which would explode on impact. But their unreliability in distinguishing between German and Russian tanks – and their fondness, when confused, for running back to their handlers – made this a mercifully brief experiment.

Today, the use of dogs within the British and US military is increasing, thanks to their unrivalled skill in sniffing out hidden explosive devices. And there are even canine medals – last year a black labrador called Treo was awarded the equivalent of the Victoria Cross for finding hidden bombs in Helmand province by veterinary charity the PDSA. A further 26 other dogs have also won the award, introduced in 1943.

Currently, the Pentagon has about 2,700 dogs in service, include the one that accompanied the Seals and which met President Obama, along with the rest of the team, at a secret reception after the raid. Expect another flurry of excitement when it writes its memoirs.

(source)

Marjah, Afghanistan, Feb. 27, 2010Explosive-ordnance-disposal...

Sun, 15 May 2011 14:38:00 -0400

Marjah, Afghanistan, Feb. 27, 2010
Explosive-ordnance-disposal personnel, including Goodwin, a bomb-sniffing dog, dig for a suspected IED on a road near Route 605.

Farah Province, Afghanistan, 2009A U.S. Marine handler rests on...

Sun, 15 May 2011 14:37:29 -0400

Farah Province, Afghanistan, 2009
A U.S. Marine handler rests on his dog, Patrick, as his platoon settles into a makeshift patrol base in southern Afghanistan.

Danang, Vietnam, 1969Muzzled sentry dogs and their handlers ride...

Sun, 15 May 2011 14:36:24 -0400

Danang, Vietnam, 1969
Muzzled sentry dogs and their handlers ride in the back of a truck as they return from a patrol.

World War IIRussian Red Army soldiers use sled dogs for...

Sun, 15 May 2011 14:35:38 -0400

World War II
Russian Red Army soldiers use sled dogs for transportation in 1943.

A Navy SEAL platoon performs a land warfare demonstration at...

Fri, 13 May 2011 15:25:43 -0400

A Navy SEAL platoon performs a land warfare demonstration at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story in Virginia July 17, 2010. Any dog that participated in the US mission to find Osama bin Laden in Pakistan would have been a member of an elite corps of canines with little relation to common family pets, experts say. (Robert J. Fluegel/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. Military Member Mike Forsythe and his dog Cara break the...

Fri, 13 May 2011 15:24:22 -0400

U.S. Military Member Mike Forsythe and his dog Cara break the world record for “highest man/dog parachute deployment” by jumping from 30,100 feet in this undated image released by a company which manufactures equipment for military dogs. (K9 Storm Inc./Handout/Reuters)