Rebecca Frankel - War Dogs: Tales of Canine Heroism, History, and Love

War Dogs

Tales of Canine Heroism,
History, and Love

Rebecca Frankel

Foreword by Thomas E. Ricks

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For the handlers who let me get close to their dogs, and for the dogs who let me get close to their handlers.

For Tippy and Rippythe dogs who came first.

Contents

Foreword

This is a lovely book. The image of a small but enthusiastic dog pulling the author up a hill at dusk in the Arizona desert in a military training exercise will stay with me.

But it is also a surprising book. I opened it looking forward to reading a few good stories about the use of dogs in war. But midway through, the realization hit me that this is something larger than that, and far deeper: it is a meditation on war and humans. It illuminates conflict from the unexpected angle of the allure of war, and the damage it does to both species.

This book is the account of a journey. We accompany the author, Rebecca Frankel, into the small but lively world of military dogs and their handlers. She brings a gimlet eye for its idiosyncrasies, such as the jockeying to be the handler with the toughest dog. We learn about what makes a good dog as opposed to a weak one. We become aware of the danger of the trainer melting the dog. We see that the essential ingredient in partnering with a dog, as with a human, is trust. The dog will often rather lay down life itself than betray its trust, we are told. Frankel posits that dogs, unlike other animals, have been hardwired by evolution to develop trust in certain humans. I believe it.

But this volume about dogs is also a very human story. Some of its best passages are about the dogs handlers. They take deserved pride in their line of work. But like many soldiers, they also feel misjudged by the larger military world, yet for an unusual reason: Leadership doesnt understand us... Dont quite grasp us because they dont understand dogs.

Frankel adeptly shows us how bonds form and expand between handler and animal. I did not know that dogs and handlers often work together for years. We meet one team that was joined for a decade, until canine death did them part. Nor did I know that the drive of the handler is the single most important ingredient in a team, or that handlers are taught to see spots in the flow of air where dogs might best detect odors.

But, in keeping with the deeper themes of the book, we also learn that dogs require proportionally larger doses of morphine to ease pain than do people. And when one handler wrestling with severe PTSD dies, a comrade comments, Well, officially its written up as an accident. But I know it wasnt.

Frankel is a good and observant writer. She brings a fresh eye to military affairs. Our recent wars have made us familiar with the grainy, green images produced by night vision goggles. But I had never seen the image captured quite as well as her phrase herein, shades of neon lemon and lime.

There is also some interesting history here. I didnt know that dogs were introduced to the Iraq war relatively late and were not part of the invasion force. It is significant also that they were not initially brought to help detect roadside bombs but turned to that task once there. This makes them a central part of the Iraq story, because the roadside bomb, or IED, is the characteristic feature of the war there, just as trenches and machine guns were during World War I.

As shown here, the tale of the US military war dog is the history of the US military buildups and drawdowns in miniature. Old lessons are relearned in new wars, and then forgotten as units demobilize in the postwar era.

Indeed, the world of the canine military is an obscure part of our huge armed forces establishment, somewhat akin to, say, meteorology or airborne medicine. But as Frankel drills deep into it, it becomes clear that this is the most military of worlds, hard-core in its own way. One true lesson: If you arent humble and honest with yourself and what youre really capable of... then you need to get the hell out of the way and let somebody else do it. Another one that rings true: Shortcuts get people killed.

The bonus is that anyone who reads this book and has a pet dog will come away with a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, their companion. As I write this, one of my terriers, a rescue dog with fear issues, is sleeping by my feet. Frankels observation that the leash is the wire through which emotions and feelings are transmitted, both ways, will change the way I think about my walks with him and my other, calmer dog. Most of all, I will think of the daily requirement to earn and retain their trust. Or, as that bumper sticker says, to be the person my dogs think I am.

Thomas E. Ricks

Authors Note

Here are a few things that I feel might be worth explaining before readers begin.

To head off the understandable questions (and readers with a copy-editing eye) about the spelling of some of the military dogs names that appear in these pages, those that begin with two of the same letter are not spelling errors. The US Military Working Dog program breeds dogs, and the resulting puppies are identified by names that begin with the same double letter. For example, in June 2010 a litter of Belgian Malinois puppies were born into the R litter and were given names like Rrespect, Rromano, Rruck, and Rrisky.

Youll notice too that when I write of the handler or the working dog at large, I employ he or his. I did this for consistencys sakeit should not be viewed as gender bias or emblematic of a working dog culture that is still dominated by males, but rather because it was simpler.

I also made a conscious decision at the beginning of writing this book not to assign the pronoun it when talking about these dogs. Therefore, they are always he, she, or who. In my mind it refers to a thing, and dogs are not things; they are our feeling and emotionally engaged companions. And, especially in this book, they are oftentimes more than that, certainly nothing less.

Introduction

Dogs in the Time of War

People have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning of time. One never knows what theyll do. You can read every day where a dog saved the life of a drowning child, or lay down his life for his master. Some people call this loyalty. I dont. I may be wrong, but I call it lovethe deepest kind of love....

Its a shame that people all over the world cant have that kind of love in their hearts.... There would be no wars, slaughter, or murder; no greed or selfishness. It would be the kind of world that God wants us to havea wonderful world.

Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows

Despite the many distant stars, there was no moon, and the night sky was all the blacker for it. The desert air had chilled but the tension in the village was palpable and rising. Gunfire crackled down the market lane, rapid and loud. A high-pitched hiss sizzled in the distance, followed by the deep shudder of an explosion. Boom! Then came another, and another.