Lodder’s story: Dogs of War
U.S. Marine Cpl. Kyle Click, a dog handler with 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and 22-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Mich., shares a moment with Windy, an improvised explosive device detection dog, while waiting to resume a security patrol here, Feb. 27, 2012. On deployment in Helmand province’s Garmsir district, the ‘America’s Battalion’ dog handlers and their improvised explosive device detection dogs live, travel and work together. In a combat environment largely devoid of the safety and comforts of home, the energetic Labrador retrievers are neither pets nor expendable objects. They’re faithful friends and saviors of Marines. Since arriving here in November, IED detection dogs have found four drug caches and two IEDs.(Photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder)
Multiple merit award winner Cpl. Reece Lodder, Combat Correspondent writes: “I thought I’d share my latest story on 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment’s ‘Dogs of War’ in Afghanistan. It’s a story I’ve been waiting to tell my entire deployment, and one of my favorites I’ve had the opportunity to craft as of recent. The supporting photos are my best photos of our IED detection dogs and their Marine handlers from my deployment to Garmsir.”
To read this story and view the photos click: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/86086/dogs-war-friends-and-saviors-marines-afghanistan