The military’s working dogs are absolutely amazing. They are true heroes that fight right alongside their human teammates in literally the most dangerous scenarios one can imagine. They have a long and downright impressive history that is increasingly being appreciated. Case in point, Saturday’s raid to capture or kill one of the most despicable human beings in modern history, the leader of ISIS and the mastermind of its heinous caliphate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. You can read our complete in-depth coverage on the raid here, but we are elated that the brave combat K9 that was brought on that mission and supposedly injured after chasing scumbag al-Baghdadi down a dead-end tunnel where he killed himself by detonating a suicide vest is going to survive. And yes, we now have a picture of him!
President Trump released a photo of the dog on Twitter on Monday, stating “We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi!”
Trump made the following statements about the dog during his press conferences on Sunday morning:
Yeah. We thought, for three days, this is what was going to happen. It was actually — look, nobody was even hurt. Our K-9, as they call — I call it a dog, a beautiful dog, a talented dog — was injured and brought back. But we had no soldier injured. And they did a lot of shooting, and they did a lot of blasting, even not going through the front door. You know, you would think you go through the door. If you’re a normal person, you say, “Knock, knock. May I come in?” The fact is that they blasted their way into the house and a very heavy wall, and it took them literally seconds. By the time those things went off, they had a beautiful, big hole, and they ran in and they got everybody by surprise.
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Our dog was hurt. Actually, the K-9 was hurt, went into the tunnel. But we lost nobody.
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Then they went in, they blasted their way in — you’ve heard. They blasted their way in so quickly. It was incredible. Because this building was quite powerful, strong. They blasted their way in, and then all hell broke loose. It’s incredible that nobody was killed — or hurt. We had nobody even hurt. And that’s why the dog was so great. We actually had a robot to go in the tunnel, but we didn’t get it because we were tracking him very closely. But we had a robot, just in case. Because we were afraid he had a suicide vest on, and if you get close to him and he blows it up, you’re going to die. You’re going to die. He had a very powerful suicide vest.
On Sunday, I called for the dog to be formally recognized and maybe even work as a mascot for all the dedicated special operators and intelligence people who made the raid possible, but cannot accept credit for it publicly. This is a great first step. And what a good looking pooch it is! You couldn’t ask for a more handsome dog from Hollywood animal actor casting. Some sources state that his name is Conan and he is supposedly a Belgian Malinois:
The special operations community’s combat dogs jump out of airplanes, run into firefights, chase down terrorists, detect explosives devices, and even carry critical gear into the fight. They have become increasingly visible within the community. One was also famously brought along on the Bin Laden operation.
You are probably asking what can you can do to support these furry four-legged warriors. The answer to that doing just that is all too simple, donate right now to a military working dog foundation, such as Warrior Dog Foundation or Mission K9, which see that these amazing animals have a great life once they are retired from active service. It doesn’t have to be a lot, just $5, $10, or $20 dollars can make a difference.
Let’s hope we will hear more about this amazing dog in the days and weeks to come.
The special ops commando dog: a good guy’s best friend and a bad guy’s worst freakin’ nightmare.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com