Lassie 2.0 - Marine Bomb Sniffing Dogs

From War on Terror News:

Marine Corps Base Hawaii – Kaneohe Bay

03.15.2011 Story by Cpl. Colby Brown MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — With noses to the ground and tails in the air in a combat zone, Marine bomb sniffing dogs bring yet another asset to the table in the fight against improvised explosive devices.

These canine Marines are enlisted into the Corps for the purpose of attaching to a platoon and clearing an area of IED threats before a patrol passes through. For 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, having these military working dogs increases their confidence in the ability to deter the IED threat while on patrols during their upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

“The fact that these dogs are smelling odors of explosives [from their training only weeks ago] makes me confident that they can find threats when we get to Afghanistan,” said 2nd Lt. Joshua Castillo, platoon commander, 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, native of San Antonio.

Cpl. Jazz, a yellow Labrador with 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, is already a veteran of Afghanistan. She, like all of her fellow bomb-sniffers, can smell several different types of odors connected to IEDs. She goes on patrols, raids and assaults whenever her platoon does. She is an essential member of the platoon...

More at War on Terror News here.

Release the Hounds: K9's on the frontlines

From War on Terror News:

K9's Key in Combatting Drugs/Explosives in Afghanistan

Bringing more bark to fight
by Tech. Sgt. Stacia Zachary USAF

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LAGMAN, Afghanistan -- To counter the growing improvised explosive device threat in Afghanistan, as well as detect the well-established drug trade here, the increased use of military working dogs have become a critical part of daily operations. Not only can they detect explosives and drug hoards, they can actively engage the enemy and alert the patrols of imminent danger.

"The dogs bring to the fight an inherent ability to sense things that we couldn't even begin to perceive," said Tech. Sgt. Paul Rasmussen, Combined Team Zabul kennel master.

"They can smell things that could be bad news for us, like explosive
caches and [improvised explosive devices]. It's almost like a sixth sense because they can sense something out of the ordinary well before we could detect it."...

There is much more to this story of some of my favourite heroes. Head over to WOTN here.

*This post Bratdog approved!*