3. Dogs of War
Chris Terrill’s coverage of active service in Afghanistan continues, with the focus turning to the dogs.
The men of L Company risk getting blown up every day by IEDs (improvised explosive devices). The area they patrol is riddled with them and four marines have been killed in less than three months. So four-year-old springer spaniel Memphis is brought in to help. With his super-sensitive nose Memphis has a knack of sniffing out IEDs and should save a lot of lives and limbs.
Meanwhile, a mile to the north, the Royal Engineers are still busy clearing IEDs from the old bazaar at the village Loy Mandeh. It is slow, painstaking work but once again dog power is being used to detect the deadly bombs. Unlike Memphis, however, Vidar suffers from a terrible fear of loud bangs. Luke Outhwaite, his handler, has to comfort the Belgian shepherd dog every time an IED is detonated.
2012-02-13
