( grunting ) Benno was a dog that
was 100 percent warrior and was all business <i> when it came to
conducting major missions.</i> ( grunting ) He was always
the platoon mascot, <i> and he had
42 apprehensions.</i> - He was very legendary.
- Find 'em. Man:<i>
Having that dog there</i> <i> is an extra line
and measure of security.</i> He can save your life. Rangers are
a direct-action raid unit. They're meant to go in
and find the bag guy
and eliminate them. And the dog's working
with them with that same purpose. Man:<i>
When you cut a dog loose</i> inside of
a bad guy's house, the bad guys are
more focused on the dog and not all the barrel-chested
freedom fighters coming in there
to do justice to this guy. Man:<i>
I've seen dogs and what
they're capable of doing</i> <i> and doing in combat,</i> and that is
a humbling thing, just the physical prowess
of a dog. Trent:<i>
Military working dogs,</i> <i> they've been around
since World War I.</i> <i> They used them a lot
in trench warfare.</i> They would put
a note on a dog and they would send a dog
across the battlefield. <i> Then they started
using the dog</i> <i> to carry things like ammo,</i> <i> so they could
resupply the guys.</i> Chad:<i>
Now military working dogs</i> <i> are trained
in bomb detection,
weapon detection,</i> they can be trained
in drug detection, <i> and to chase down combatants
that are fleeing.</i> Newscaster:<i>
To do their job in war,</i> they have to be
highly aggressive. Newscaster #2:<i>
There are nearly 3,000
military working dogs,</i> <i> and 600 are serving
in warzones.</i> <i> They eat, sleep,
and fight alongside
their handlers 24-7.</i> As a dog handler, I was always
around the action. If somebody ran
from the building, I was there. <i> I was the person
that they called on.</i> <i> I'd get to be up there
at the breach.</i> <i> I'd get to be right up there
with the main assault.</i> <i> I'd get to do
all the fun stuff.</i> I was heavily,
heavily utilized, and I wouldn't have had it
any other way. <i> I'm Julian Trent McDonald,
29 years old.</i> I did eight combat deployments
in a matter of six years throughout
my military career-- three to Iraq
and five to Afghanistan. <i> I was born in Clovis,
New Mexico,</i> <i> at Cannon Air Force Base.</i> <i> My father was in
the military.</i> <i> He had 25 years
in the Air Force.</i> After my parents split up, probably when
I was about 12 years old, that's when I moved
to northwest Arkansas <i> with my mother.</i> <i> We had a big farm,
lots of cattle,</i> <i> lots of horses, goats,
chickens, you name it.</i> <i> It was one of those
you didn't eat in the morning</i> <i> until your animals ate.</i> I would wake up
at 4:00 in the morning, feed the animals, and that would
give me enough time to get to school by 6, 7:00 to do football practice. <i> My mom taught me
how to saddle break colts.</i> <i> That was a hard task,</i> especially for
a hundred-pound kid. I wasn't a big-- I wasn't very
very big in high school. I left eleventh grade
weighing 155 pounds soaking wet with
two bricks in my pocket. I was just a little guy
and there horses were just-- they would manhandle me
and throw me off. You have to take
a whole lot of caution when approaching
something like that. And if for one second
you disrespect that animal, you're going to know it,
because the animal
has a potential to hurt you or kill you. That's where my big respect
for animals came from. <i> My grandfather had a rule</i> <i> that if you had a dog
and you owned a dog,</i> <i> you took care
of that dog.</i> <i> Everyday feeding,</i> <i> everyday maintenance
stuff like that on the animal,</i> you always took care of it. What you also took care of
was if the animal decided it was going to
go after farm animals. I remember I came home
off the school bus and I look out
to the pasture. I can't find my dog
anywhere. I look out
and he's literally hanging off
the side of a cow. My grandfather comes
and hands me my rifle. He says, "Well,
this is your problem." I took the rifle and I said,
"What do you want me to do?" He said,
"You're going to kill him." I said, "Okay." <i> Living out on the farm
and living that lifestyle,</i> it was a lesson
that had to be learned. <i> I learned real quick
to train dogs</i> <i> because I didn't want
to have to kill them.</i> <i> After that,
joining the military,</i> <i> going into basic training,
that was a joke.</i> <i> That was easy stuff.</i> I got to eat,
I got to sleep, and all I had to do was run around
and get yelled at. That was every day
on the farm. Trent McDonald
got to Ranger regiment a few years before I did. I always called him "Mac." He's the wild one
on deployment. He's the crazy one. Chad:<i>
He's a loud guy.</i> <i> He's full of energy.</i> But he was honest,
and you knew exactly where he stood on
everything at all times. I think Mac struggled
early on in the Rangers keeping himself
out of trouble because I think he has
a lot of play to him. But he really did
find his calling <i> with the dog section,</i> <i> because when
he went there,</i> <i> he didn't have
any trouble at all</i> <i> focusing on task at hand.</i> Trent:<i>
In spring of 2009,
I went to the dog section.</i> When I got there,
I found out <i> that I was getting
this dog Benno.</i> <i> I had a big problem
with Benno at the time.</i> Chad:<i>
He had a reputation
of not being</i> the most stellar dog. Benno is
a steely-eyed idiot <i> with four legs, really.</i> He got kicked out
of Afghanistan, came to Iraq--
the dog did. Bit a bunch of assaulters
out in Iraq and they didn't know
what to do with this dog. So now they give
this new guy this dog and I almost looked at it as if it was
too much too soon. Almost like,
"Wait a minute. I don't even know
how to handle a dog. Why are you
giving me this thing?" Chad:<i>
When McDonald had him,</i> <i> it was initially
a power struggle.</i> Benno tested
McDonald's limits. McDonald trying to be
the handler to Benno. Trent:<i>
It was a big love-hate
relationship</i> <i> right from the get-go.</i> <i> On my first mission
with him,</i> I popped his muzzle
off of him real quick, and then when I went
to go release him, I released him
right into the back of a team leader's calf. <i> Yeah, that wasn't
a very good day.</i> <i> There was a lot
of learning curves
that deployment.</i> <i> We were going
out on a mission</i> <i> to find a known
enemy combatant's compound.</i> - ( shouting )
- ( gunfire ) We did a call-out
trying to get these guys to put down their weapons
and come out. - They still didn't.
- Seven, this Tango. Prepping K9 for assault. Trent:<i>
I got the go ahead</i> <i> to go ahead
and release Benno.</i> You ready? You ready? <i> That's when a good burst
of machine gunfire</i> <i> came through the breach.</i> <i> I grabbed him,
I dragged him back,</i> and what happened is
I overcorrected him by putting too
much pressure on him and I ended up paying
the price for it. - ( barks )
- ( gasping ) <i> He bit me so hard
I started puking.</i> ( retching ) The guy next to me, he said,
"I really want to help you, but you have to get
your dog off you first." I remember thinking
to myself, "Are you serious? I have to get
this dog off me, too?" <i> He actually
didn't eat his food</i> for two or three days
after he bit me. He just refused
to eat his food. It was almost
like he knew that he did
something wrong. <i> I had to train
that dog to standard,</i> <i> because you don't
want a dog on the ground</i> <i> that all your boys
behind you rely on,</i> and when you cut him loose all they're worried about is
"Is he gonna eat me?" Seven, this is Tango.
Dog muzzled. We had to go through
a lot of scenarios and we had to go through
a lot of things <i> for me to openly trust Benno
and be like,</i> <i> "All right, this dog knows
what he's doing."</i> <i> Not only that,
but then to have the platoon
I was working with</i> <i> have that same trust
that I had,</i> <i> it was just as important.</i> <i> I will probably say
the biggest thing
I learned from Benno</i> <i> is that he demanded
a certain amount of respect.</i> I think me bringing him
around the platoon <i> and around the boys
as much as I did</i> <i> really helped him
to be like,</i> <i> "Oh, these guys are part
of my team, too.</i> These guys aren't
just people out there
that I can bite." You'd see other platoons
and they wouldn't have that interaction
with their dog, <i> or dog handler,
for that matter.</i> Growing up,
I wasn't necessarily
a dog person, so I made it a point
to go see the dog every day, have the dog smell me-- more for my own
personal protection. But it actually turned
into a friendship with McDonald and Benno. <i> My name's Chad Clough,
I'm 29 years old,</i> <i> and I serve in
the United States Army.</i> As I child,
I was always into sports and getting into trouble, trying to
make people laugh. <i> I did karate.</i> <i> I always wanted to compete,</i> so I after I earned
my black belt, I really focused
on competing and I earned
several world titles <i> at a pretty young age.</i> <i> I fought in Venezuela</i> and I went to Canada
multiple times, went to Vegas and Atlanta. It was cool as a child,
getting to travel, <i> getting to do something
you love to do.</i> <i> From a very early age,</i> <i> it was always in
the back of my mind</i> <i> that I wanted to join
the military.</i> <i> All the research
I had done</i> <i> was that the Rangers
were the premiere
direct-action force.</i> And if you're gonna
do a mission, I figured direct-action
would be the best mission <i> to be a part of.</i> <i> My first deployment
was in 2009,</i> and it was McDonald's first
deployment as a dog handler. <i> He lived right across
the little hall from me
that we were in.</i> Chad Clough,
just another guy with
a huge personality, awesome sense of humor. Chad and Dillon
took a big-- they really liked the dog. They really liked
the capabilities of the dog. Man:
Bite 'em! <i> I would have them help me
every once in awhile.</i> Oh, yeah, Misha! <i> I would do classes
where they would come in</i> <i> and they would see
training.</i> "Hey, this is what
a dog looks like <i> when he finds
an explosive.</i> <i> This is what a change
in behavior looks like."</i> You couldn't watch Mac
and not understand that this guy is passionate about training
and caring for dogs. Chad:<i>
I always used to joke</i> <i> with my friends
in the platoon</i> <i> that McDonald was such
a good dog handler</i> <i> because he was
an animal himself</i> <i> and he could just--</i> he was on
the same level as Benno. <i> He's an animal,
Benno was an animal,</i> <i> and they enjoyed
the same things.</i> Dillon:<i>
You couldn't have matched up
their personalities better--</i> <i> really aggressive
on target,</i> <i> want to find
and kill some bad guys.</i> And then off target? "I just want
to create havoc, mess something up,
and have a good time." Chad:<i>
The whole platoon
got to know Benno,</i> <i> and Benno went
from being this--</i> <i> almost like an outcast dog</i> <i> when he came to the platoon
with McDonald</i> to being
the platoon's mascot. <i> He would come into
the platoon area</i> <i> and we loved Benno
and Benno loved us.</i> There was just this jerk
running around eating your boots,
jumping on you, smashing things over. You couldn't
get in the team room and be prepping your stuff
without the dog running in there
and just crashing stuff. Walked into the TOC
one day, and these guys
had two basketballs, and Benno is attacking
one basketball. He pops that basketball. Goes after
the other basketball,
pops that, and everybody's looking at me
like I'm the bad guy. And I'm like,
"You guys are the ones teasing him with a ball." The thing we jabbed Mac for was having a love affair
with this dog. He would go somewhere, the dog was going to
be there. I'm pretty sure
I saw the dog coming out of the showers
with him, too. <i> Benno has a lot of names
in battalion.</i> <i> He would pick up
a nickname here,
a nickname there.</i> <i> Some were descriptive,</i> <i> some were inappropriate.</i> <i> Rock Eater,
Rock Muncher,</i> <i> Zombie Dog, Fur Missile.</i> Hellhound was one of them. Chad:<i>
Benno has lost
a lot of teeth</i> <i> due to bites in training,
bites in combat.</i> So we joked
that we had the best dog-- military working dog
there ever was and he had two teeth. Benno would have
been surprised to see himself
in the mirror. I don't think Benno
thought of himself as a dog. Or maybe
he just thought dogs walked around on two legs
and had rifles. Trent:<i>
He was a character,</i> <i> and he brought
a lot of home</i> <i> to a place
that wasn't so homey.</i> He was able to bridge a gap
of being there, but still kind of having
the feeling of being home. There's this bond
that's hard to really
put into words. <i> He's part of the team.</i> It didn't take long
for Benno and McDonald <i> to really gel together
and be a cohesive force.</i> Trent:<i>
After my first deployment,
my second, my third,</i> <i> and my fourth deployment
with him,</i> we were a well...
well-oiled machine. ( panting ) Dillon:<i>
You really bond
with a dog well</i> when the dog is executing
the same tasks that you are. Chad:<i>
There was one incident
where there was a tunnel</i> <i> that led to
an underground room.</i> <i> We were stacked,
waiting to go in,</i> and we opted to send
the dog in first. <i> Benno got excited
to do stuff like that.</i> All of the sudden you hear
a man screaming for his life. <i> When we got down there,</i> <i> the enemy combatant
was holding a burlap sack</i> <i> that Benno was biting.</i> Benno had scared
this guy so much that he was in fear
for his life and was screaming
like he was about to die. So Benno detained the guy
without ever biting him just from-- he scared the guy
into submission pretty much. That's the type of dog
Benno was. He was-- he was-- he could be very scary. <i> Benno was a dog that
was 100 percent warrior</i> <i> and was all business</i> <i> when it came to conducting
Ranger missions.</i> We're going after some dudes
who are pretty radicalized, and when those guys flee
and run for their lives and they run into
some thick opium fields, those dudes
are real threats. <i> But when you have
a dog like Benno</i> <i> that you could release
into a field like that,</i> <i> then everybody's like,
"Whew, all right.</i> <i> He's going to find them."</i> Dillon:<i>
This dog is
going to go after</i> <i> with a high sense
of prejudice</i> <i> towards the enemy
and eliminate him.</i> <i> I first met Benno in 2009
in Kandahar.</i> I kinda showed up
and it's my first deployment. The only thing
I know about warfare is what I'd seen
in the movies and played on video games. Then I see this dog. <i> Benno has several deployments
more than me.</i> This dog's roaming around as a grizzled veteran
with four legs, and I'm thinking-- again,
it's my first deployment. I'm thinking,
"Now, wait a second. People are acting
like this dog is deserving more
respect than me. What's going on here?" <i> I'm Dillon Ford,
I'm 30 years old,</i> <i> and I served in the Army
with the US Rangers.</i> Growing up, I would say
I had a drug problem. I was drugged
to church on Sunday, drugged to church
on Wednesday, and drugged to church
on Saturday night, too. That was really formative
for me growing up, <i> and I also had
this fascination
with the military,</i> <i> specifically
with the Rangers.</i> As 1 John 3:16 would say, "And this is how
we know love, that Christ laid down
his life for us, and so we ought
to be willing to lay down our lives
for our brothers." That sounds like
what a call to arms is. <i> I wanted to be on
the very tip of the spear.</i> <i> I wanted direct-action.</i> Trent:
Oh, yeah, buddy? You ready? Huh? You ready, buddy?
Oh, yeah. Dillon:<i>
Benno, he was the only
dog I'd worked with.</i> <i> He'd been on more
deployments than I had.</i> <i> This dog very excitedly
and very willingly</i> <i> ran into danger
time and time again.</i> <i> At one point,
me and my team</i> <i> were maneuvering around
to get a squirter.</i> A squirter is any time
you've got an isolated target that you're going after
and you've got someone who breaks out
of the perimeter. You don't want them
to get away, so you're going to
chase them around. You have a grasp
that as you squeeze in, something squirts out. <i> We're in a swampy area.</i> <i> Everyone's kind of
looking around.</i> - ( branch snaps )
- ( Benno yelps ) <i> Benno is just running
around like an idiot.</i> <i> He keeps going off
into the swamp.</i> This dog is splashing
around in the water. "You're going to
give away our position." <i> He gets on this other guy
in the marsh.</i> ( Benno growling
and barking ) <i> I didn't even catch</i> <i> that we had
another squirter</i> <i> off to the right.</i> ( growling ) <i> At that point, he becomes
this highly efficient</i> <i> and highly effective
tool of warfare.</i> Good boy! <i> You look at things
like that</i> <i> and say the dog
has saved your life.</i> This dog's going to
get me home after this deployment. ( muttering ) Trent:<i>
It was my birthday,
and I was hoping that</i> <i> we were going to get
a lot of squirters.</i> <i> We haven't
had anybody squirt</i> <i> from any target compound,</i> it seemed like
the whole deployment. Benno was so experienced you could tell he knew
what was going down every time he got
onto a helicopter. He was the type of dog
that I could put down-- I could put his vest down and he walk into it
and stand there. <i> We would load the aircraft</i> <i> and the boys
would come up around</i> <i> and they would get
come loving off Benno.</i> That specific night,
I was on the same bird
as McDonald and Benno. <i> I was tasked with going on
a squirter chase.</i> <i> At three minutes,
the whole aircraft</i> <i> would get up
and take a knee.</i> <i> That's instantly
when the dog knew,</i> <i> "Hey, it's go-time."</i> <i> We got off the helicopter
and we got a call</i> <i> that the squirters
had starbursted,</i> <i> which means--
when we hear that,</i> <i> that means
that there's guys who fled</i> <i> in every direction.</i> <i> The first squirter
I went and got,</i> <i> I released Benno on him</i> <i> and he ran right
up there and bit him.</i> <i> Textbook. Perfect.</i> The guy brought
the dog to me begging me pretty much
to get the dog off him. Chad:<i>
We followed another guy</i> <i> that fled
the target compound</i> <i> into a wood line.</i> <i> That's pretty
thick vegetation</i> <i> with both underbrush
and actual trees.</i> We used an interpreter
to call him out, tell him that we had him, <i> just come out, surrender.</i> <i> He didn't respond
and play along.</i> <i> At that time
we made the call</i> <i> to use the dog.</i> ( growling and barking ) Dog got a bite.
Dog got a bite. Seven, this is Tango.
Dog got a bite. ( growling ) Benno was biting him,
but it seemed like the guy was looking like he was trying to reach
for something or grab for something. ( man shouting ) - ( gunshots )
- ( Benno whimpers ) <i> I didn't even see
the pistol.</i> I remember I walked up. I remember it happened
and it was like-- in my head
I was thinking, "Oh, my God.
We can fix this." <i> I remember
I rolled him over</i> <i> and I felt a lot of blood.</i> I looked,
and I was like, "Oh, no. He's done." I saw McDonald carrying
Benno in his arms. <i> I knew something
was wrong</i> <i> because Benno was not
one to be carried.</i> <i> McDonald laid Benno down
and was like,</i> <i> "There's nothing
you could do. He's dead."</i> Thanks, buddy.
Thank you. It sucked. It hurt. I just lost
my best friend. And it was-- it hurt so much, but it was something
that I couldn't-- I couldn't process it
right there. <i> There were still
two more guys
that had to be got,</i> <i> and I wanted to make sure</i> <i> that they paid
for my dog's death.</i> And they did. Chad:<i>
It drastically
changed the mood.</i> <i> because it
spread around real fast</i> <i> that Benno didn't make it.</i> <i> We had to walk
a few kilometers</i> <i> to where we were
going to get picked up,</i> <i> and we all took turns
carrying Benno.</i> As the walk went on, you could tell
it was sinking in
for McDonald. He walked next to me
for a good portion of it, and you could tell
it was sinking in. Trent:<i>
After we had gathered up
his remains</i> <i> and we had brought him
back to the base,</i> I saw a lot of emotions come from a lot of guys who I have a lot
of respect for. All the guys
in the assault force, they just showed
so much love for him. I mean, not only as a dog,
but as a Ranger. Those guys,
they all respected him. They all loved him. Chad:<i>
Benno was our mascot,</i> and our mascot
just got killed. We held a platoon
memorial for Benno. We had a picture
from the deployment before <i> of Benno behind a minigun
in a helicopter.</i> Everyone gathered
and a few people said some words
about Benno and that was it. A lot of people
loved that dog. <i> You memorialize him
to remember him</i> <i> and to thank him
for the work he's done,</i> <i> and half of that
is appreciating</i> <i> every time he went out there
and saved you.</i> Chad:<i>
Benno loved what he did,</i> <i> and he was the best
military working dog</i> <i> a platoon could ask for.</i> He was warrior
through and through, and I don't think Benno would have enjoyed life
after that, and I know he was
getting ready to retire as a military working dog. <i> And if Benno could have
chose a way to go out,</i> <i> I believe he would
have chose to go out
on the battlefield.</i> <i> But I felt worse
for McDonald's loss,</i> <i> because McDonald
lost his best friend.</i> Basically,
one half of Mac is gone. <i> I think to
be a dog handler,
it takes a very special,</i> <i> very certain kind of bond
with those dogs.</i> <i> And so losing that,
that's a real hard deal.</i> Chad:<i>
Benno died on
McDonald's birthday,</i> <i> which compounded
the loss, I feel.</i> That's the worst
birthday present a dog handler could get,
I think, is having your dog die
on your birthday. I was still
in a whole lot of shock, so I was still really
pretty much emotionless. I remember that
when I went to go pick him up from the morgue,
the regular Army, he did something that was
really, really touching. In the morgue,
they all came out
of the morgue, and they were
shoulder to shoulder. And they did something--
they put Benno's remains were draped
in an American flag, and his toe tag said
"Staff Sergeant Benno, Hero." And here are these
regular Army guys that-- they've never messed
with this dog. They've never pet this dog. They've never seen
this dog. They don't have any-- any connection with
this animal whatsoever, but yet they're treating him
as if he is... a soldier, not just a dog,
but a soldier. They brought tears
to my eyes. After Benno got killed,
Mac needed another dog. Operations roll on, and we're going to need
a working dog with him. Trent:<i>
When I got to Kandahar,</i> <i> it was like, "Hey,
here's Benno's remains."</i> <i> Gave a quick brief
to the vet.</i> <i> The vet was real emotional.</i> <i> And I got to pick
between two dogs.</i> <i> One dog was
a male dog named Rico.</i> <i> Rico had already
been on two deployments</i> <i> and hadn't done
anything spectacular.</i> And then I saw Layka. <i> She this fire in her eyes.</i> <i> She would get really,
really excited</i> <i> really quickly
over some small things,
and I like that,</i> <i> because that's something
that I can use.</i> Another selfish reason
why I picked Layka is because was really
stubborn like Benno-- had a lot of
the same qualities and a lot of
the same characteristics as good old Beans did. Chad:<i>
When McDonald came back
with Layka,</i> <i> we were so accustomed</i> <i> to the McDonald-Benno
relationship</i> <i> that was seamless,</i> that it was very foreign
to the platoon to watch the struggle between a dog
and dog handler. Dillon:<i>
Layka's demeanor
was not like Benno's.</i> And-- I was about to say
you got big boots to fill, but I guess in this case
you got big paws to fill. Trent:<i>
She didn't like to go
into dark rooms,</i> <i> which is a problem for me,</i> because that's what we do. We go into dark places
and we go into dark rooms. So it took a lot of... It took a lot
of remedial training. Chad:<i>
McDonald one time asked me</i> <i> if I'd do bite suit
training with him.</i> <i> "Sure, I'll do bite suit
training,"</i> <i> because I used to not really
let on to the fact</i> that part of these dogs
terrified me. I'm asking all these
in-depth questions trying to prepare myself. Yeah, yeah. It's a little tough
to get that. <i> I remember him telling me</i> <i> that when the dog
bites the sleeve,</i> <i> you need to yell
like it's really biting you,</i> <i> so it doesn't try
to really bite you.</i> If I was scared before, I was even a little
more scared then. ( barking ) Hey! Hey! <i> I remember
waiting for it.</i> <i> Her eyes lit up</i> <i> and she latched on
to the bite sleeve.</i> <i> I was thoroughly impressed
with how strong</i> <i> a 75-pound dog
could possibly be.</i> - Get her!
- ( men shouting ) How you doing, man?
You doing all right? Okay. Trent:<i>
The whole platoon
got involved,</i> <i> and that was something
that really motivated me,</i> because never once
has the whole platoon ever gathered around
and been like, "Hey, let's do
some K9 training." Man: Sit. <i> I had a dog that
I had to train to standard</i> <i> and I had to get to
a certain point</i> <i> to where the boys
could trust her.</i> I needed that trust
more than I needed a mascot. ( barks ) Whoo! ( grunting ) Trent:<i>
When I lost Benno
and we got a new dog,</i> there was a sense
of urgency. "Hey, we need this dog to as close as we can
get her to Benno." Chad:<i>
They would do training,
and you could tell</i> <i> that she would purposely
not do things.</i> From the outside looking in,
it was comical. But I'm sure
from his point of view
it wasn't as funny <i> working with
a brand new dog</i> <i> that liked to push
his buttons.</i> With Layka,
no one had a story about
her saving their lives, <i> because the first
few missions</i> <i> didn't make her look
like an all-star.</i> <i> We'd get back to base</i> <i> and the standard response
from Mac was,</i> <i> "I know, guys.
I'm going to work with her."</i> Trent:<i>
After doing a lot of
remedial training,</i> <i> getting Layka to go
into dark rooms,</i> <i> it really paid off.</i> Chad:<i>
The platoon accepted
Layka really fast</i> <i> as a trustworthy dog</i> <i> because McDonald
said she was.</i> Trent: Sit. - We trusted him.
- ( barking ) <i> This specific night,</i> <i> we had followed
several fighters.</i> We knew that
they were heavily armed. Trent:<i>
We landed.</i> We rapidly contained
the target compound. <i> It was textbook.</i> ( speaking native language ) <i> When we started proceeding
with our call-outs...</i> ( gunfire ) We called in
a Hellfire strike
on the compound. <i> It collapsed the wall
and part of the roof.</i> Trent:<i>
The compound was really
dilapidated.</i> At that point in time,
I looked at it, <i> and I was like,
"Yeah, everybody's
dead in there.</i> <i> I feel comfortable.
Let's send Layka."</i> <i> The squad leader,
he said,</i> <i> "I'm going to show her this
thermal barrier grenade."</i> <i> It looked like a ball.</i> Layka, watch it. <i> Me and him are
sitting there counting,</i> "1001, 1002, 1003." Move! Dillon:<i>
She lunges in there,</i> <i> and I don't know what
they're stepping into.</i> with me pulling
security outside. Dog on bite.
Dog on bite. - Hey, Seven--
- ( man shouting ) Hey, I got one EKIA.
Give me a second. Let me get the dog
off of him. Trent:<i>
She's bitten this--
what I thought</i> <i> was an enemy
killed in action.</i> And as I reached down, that's when the guy
comes back to life. ( gunfire ) And I thought,
"Oh, God, I'm dead. I'm dead." Literally,
that's what I thought. I thought I was done for. <i> I fell back,
and that's when
another team leader,</i> he took the shots
to go ahead and end him. Man:
Layka. Hey, come here. Here! Here!
Come on girl! Layka. Here! Here! <i> So I started
recalling Layka.</i> <i> When she came to me,
she had her left arm
in her mouth.</i> It was in her mouth and it was only
held on by tendons. <i> I grabbed her,
and I remember</i> <i> the only thing I thought
to do was just run.</i> It's okay. I got you. Chad:<i>
The dog was back to
a safe distance.</i> You see the medic start
working on her leg. <i> Everyone started
to re-engage</i> <i> the best they could.</i> Trent:<i>
We got her relaxed.</i> That's when we started
to do work on her and figure out
the extent of the damage
that was done. <i> You have to dig through fur
and clumps of hair.</i> <i> I'm doing
blood sweeps on her,</i> <i> and I come to her arm</i> and we see the path
that the round had taken had hit her in top
of the shoulder and hit her
in that bone socket, completely decimating
that joint. I remember there was
a split second there-- I remember that's
when it all hit me, and I was like,
"Here I am in this situation again." It hasn't even been a month. Dillon:<i>
The rest of the mission,
you've got this working dog</i> <i> that you pull out of there
and you're trying
to give aid to,</i> <i> but you still have
to continue conducting
operations.</i> We go ahead
and achieve the objective, but Layka gets shot. She went in there
and sacrificed to keep me
and the other guys safe. She probably saved
three lives that night. Chad:<i>
Everyone understood
the magnitude</i> <i> of what could have happened
if she hadn't been there.</i> <i> We got word
that she was still alive</i> and we were all hoping
that she'd pull through, but it was out of our hands
at that point in time. From the time she got shot to the time
the mission was over, it was probably about two-- I'd say
two and half hours. <i> We had her on plenty
of narcotics</i> <i> and she was comfortable,</i> <i> so we were just
going to ride it out</i> <i> and get her home
with the rest of us.</i> We returned
from that thinking, "Man, I hope she makes it." She obviously-- she had to go
out of country. She had several surgeries. She ended up losing a leg. Trent:<i>
They took out
the whole shoulder.</i> <i> And there was another
pretty serious injury</i> <i> that happened to her.</i> <i> It was on
the right tricep.</i> Surgeons made
the assessment that they did not have
the equipment and the tools needed, <i> so they made the request</i> <i> to put her
on a medevac bird</i> <i> and send her to Germany.</i> <i> And they performed</i> <i> another
seven-hour surgery</i> <i> once they got her there.</i> I waited for about
two to three days to figure out,
"Is she gonna make it? Is she going to heal up and is she going to make it to be able to live
a full life?" Layka no longer fighting
in a war zone, but she's fighting
for her recovery. As you see here,
she's learning to walk again with that remaining
front leg. This is at
the University of Tennessee. Chad:<i>
Everyone was excited</i> <i> that she was going to
pull through.</i> <i> Then we found out
that she had lost a leg.</i> We were so happy
that she lived, that the jokes started
flowing pretty fast-- nicknames for her-- Tripod and whatever
it may be. Dillon:<i>
We were sitting
there thinking,</i> <i> "This is a big victory</i> <i> that this dog
even survived."</i> <i> And Mac's thought
was already</i> on the process of, "She's going to survive, but what are we going to do to support her
after she survives?" Trent:<i>
When I got back home
from that deployment,</i> probably one of the first
phone calls I made was to Lackland
Air Force Base. <i> They weren't really ready
to release her to me,</i> <i> because they thought
she was too aggressive.</i> Dillon:<i>
There was a lot of
resistance</i> <i> to him adopting this dog,
the thought being</i> <i> it's wounded animal,</i> it's a dog that's
specifically bred and trained
as an attack dog. And you want to bring that
into a domestic setting? You're going to have it
around people? <i> You have a military-grade
weapon with legs,</i> <i> and it's injured.</i> But Mac was unswayed
by that logic. They didn't want to
give her to me because I had
a year and a half-old boy who was just a toddler. So they were afraid
that she was going to
get ahold of him and something
bad could happen, and they didn't want
any of that falling on them. <i> And I said, "Let me try
to give her a shot</i> <i> at having a full life."</i> And they did. <i> I went to San Antonio,
picked her up,</i> <i> and now she's been part of
my family ever since.</i> This is Layka. This is Big Booty Judy. <i> Her and my son are like
two peas in a pod.</i> <i> He's always doing stuff
and blaming it on her.</i> <i> She had every reason
to come out of this</i> <i> and be completely neurotic</i> <i> and be completely crazy</i> for what's happened to her. But she came out,
and she is so social, and she's so "lovey,"
and she's so sweet. <i> And when I see her
transition like that</i> <i> to normal life,
to regular life,</i> <i> she inspires me.</i> <i> "Man, if she can do it,
I can do it."</i> If she can be that social, then I can be that social. Dillon:<i>
I'm really excited about
the opportunity</i> that Mac's created
for himself, and, really,
opportunities that Layka's
helped provide. Chad:<i>
McDonald continued to be
a great dog handler</i> <i> after I left the service.</i> Maybe it is because
he is an animal himself, but I think he found
his calling in life when he became
a dog handler. He really excelled at it. Trent:<i>
I have my own kennel.
I have nine dogs.</i> And what I do out there
is I do exactly what I did
when I was in the Army. <i> I train them
how to find bombs</i> <i> and I train them
to apprehend bad guys.</i> As far as
what Layka's doing, I think she's just
basking in her glory and lording over
her position. Trent:<i>
She gets to watch
"Grey's Anatomy."</i> <i> She's like a diva.</i> She's her own person. She does what she wants. She looks
at my kennel dogs like they're common dogs. <i> I wouldn't be in the position
that I'm in right now</i> <i> if it wasn't for her.</i> <i> And Benno,
I think about him every time
I turn on my computer.</i> <i> He's my screen-saver.</i> He's my buddy. When you walk
into my kennel, I have massive banners
of Benno, Layka, my brothers that
I've lost in combat, and they're all
sitting up there. So every time
I go into work, I see him, I think of him. Chad:<i>
Being on those deployments</i> <i> and seeing
what dogs can do</i> <i> really opens your eyes.</i> <i> They're capable
of so much more</i> than what people
give them credit for or respect them for. Trent:
Come here. Good girl. Announcer:<i>
Fans, please direct
your attention</i> <i> to the north end zone,
as we welcome Layka,</i> <i> a five-year-old
Belgian Malinois,</i> <i> to Neyland Stadium.</i> <i> Layka is a decorated war dog
that saved the lives</i> <i> of American troops
in Afghanistan.</i> <i> ( crowd cheers )</i> <i> Let's give a big orange
round of applause</i> <i> for the caregivers
from the college
of veterinary medicine</i> <i> and service dog
and hero Layka!</i> <i> ( crowd cheers
and applauds )</i>
