http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/sc...5dog.html?_r=1

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Dogman

On Thu, 05 May 2011 16:39:10 -0400, Dogman wrote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/sc...5dog.html?_r=1

Little is known about what may be the nation’s
most courageous dog. Even its breed is the subject of great
interest

I saw a brief mention of a dog as a member of the team on one of the
BBC's broadcasts but there were no details there either.

--
Bob
http://www.kanyak.com

My friends who are members of the national GSD club are burning up the
electrons talking about this and guessing.... I'm sure it's the same
for the Malinois club. I'm guessing it was a Malinois, being familiar
with space limitations of the helicopters.... they weren't the cargo and
troop hauler size like the Seahorse (? name, Navy, somewhat smaller) and
Chinook (Army).... and the differences in agility that are related to
size (length of body). My direct experience is with the Chinook (bigger
than a barn), and the old Huey (snug), that I flew in when I was on the
Army's burn transport team.... and the old Cobra gunship (I got a demo
ride once.... URP!).

Lackland's training program is quite diversified since the eons ago that
I dated one of the officers there in the late '60s. They're also
training Labs as Therapy Dogs for stress relief in Iraq and
Afghanistan.... just good basic obedience.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

On Fri, 6 May 2011 15:32:22 -0400, (Jo Wolf) wrote:

My friends who are members of the national GSD club are burning up the
electrons talking about this and guessing.... I'm sure it's the same
for the Malinois club. I'm guessing it was a Malinois, being familiar
with space limitations of the helicopters.... they weren't the cargo and
troop hauler size like the Seahorse (? name, Navy, somewhat smaller) and
Chinook (Army).... and the differences in agility that are related to
size (length of body). My direct experience is with the Chinook (bigger
than a barn), and the old Huey (snug), that I flew in when I was on the
Army's burn transport team.... and the old Cobra gunship (I got a demo
ride once.... URP!).

The mission was so secret that no one (outside of those involved in
the operation) knows what kinds of choppers were involved. We know
that they used at least one "stealth" helicopter that they had to blow
up because it "crashed." Some of my flyboy buds tell me that it
probably didn't really crash, or malfunction, but probably suffered
from a malady known as "density altitude." Which causes a lack of lift
(in planes and helicopters) in certain hot, high-altitude conditions,
especially if overloaded. And they certainly had those conditions in
Pakistan on that day (K-2 and the Karakoram are right up the road from
Abbotabad).

My money's on a Malinois, too, because of their smaller size. Space
(and weight) is always at a premium on a chopper. Plus, these dogs
have to make high-altitude parachute jumps with their special
operators, too, so again, weight and size is important.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-n...-weapon-2011-5

--
Dogman

Yeh, when I was assigned to field duty (a go-to-war hospital in training
status, '72-'75, Fort Benning, I was chief nurse/training nurse), our
unit fell under a non- divisional medical battalion Hq, along with a
ground ambulance company and an air ambulance company, a clearing
company and some odds and ends of specialty detatchments ( like a 2-man
optical fabrication team to fix or make glasses.... and a 6 man public
health entomology team to find and kill bugs). and later, some bright
soul added one of the Cobra gunship companies because our battalion CO
was the only senior command aviator on post. I worked from the
battalion hq operations shop, in charge of medical training and on-site
medical coverage for Infantry School training (Airborne and Ranger), so
was used to hearing the pilots, and one NCO, a medic who was also
qualified in air traffic control, talk about that air density issue....
which had been a major problem in Nam, and now and then came up in
Georgia and Florida. I had forgotten about that until you mentioned it.

I seem to recall that in summer, our duty officer or duty NCO had to do
heat index determinations hourly, from morning to late evening, because
the air ambulance unit was located at their own small air field, near
battalion hq, not the one that was used by the USAF for staging Airborne
drops, a good number of miles away. We were out on Kelly Hill at that
time, and the big airfield was down in the Chattahoochie River
valley.... so our airfield could be as much as 5-10 degrees cooler.

The USAF chopper pilot who took the burn team to Fort Huachuca, AZ, from
Douglas-Bisbee AFB farther North in AZ and back one day, commented that
he was glad the flight was a couple of weeks earlier than when the
intense summer heat hit. I didn't know the significance of the subject
then.... just as well I didn't. I never did feel comfy in helicopters.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia