Reasons Why Women Shouldn’t Be in Combat Units
Note: This post is a follow up to my post “Women Shouldn’t be in Combat Units.” You might want to read that before reading this post.
“A woman’s motherly instincts won’t allow them to kill.”
“A woman’s place is in the home taking care of the kids.”
Oh, wow, you should see all the hate messages and tweets I received on my post about women in combat units. Of course I respect everyone’s opinion. The ability to voice one’s opinion is one of the many wonderful freedoms we have in our nation. Above are just a couple of the comments I received in response to my post and I’m going to take them seriously in this post. But first I’m going to have a little fun with them.
I’m going to reflect on the classic Saturday Night Live skit … Read More »
Military Dog Pictures of the Week (March 28, 2012)
More pictures from my trip to the Inter-Service Advanced Skills K-9 (IASK) Course, YUMA Proving Grounds Arizona
“Dude, put your tongue away. You’re embarrassing me.”
“Sorry, Dad, I’m just excited to go find things for you.”
“Boy, I can’t wait until I get my Kong! I wonder if there is any peanut butter in it.”
Please check out the links below if you missed or want to revisit any of the past few weeks pictures of the week.
Military Dog Picture of the Week (March 21, 2012): Kong Euphoria!
The New A-Team hits the dirt roads of Afghanistan hunting for the Taliban
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Military Working Dog Teams National Monument
My wife Megan and I were honored this fall to attend a fundraiser in support of the Military Working Dog Teams National Monument.
What a great idea! A monument for our dog teams isn’t just an idea any longer.
Congressman Walter B. Jones of North Carolina initiated Congressional legislation for a national monument for military working dogs, It passed the U.S. House and Senate and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 28, 2008. Raising the public funds needed to make it happen is now a critical objective.
“It is the first time in the U.S. military history that the U.S. Congress has elevated an animal, a dog, to national monument status by law, and the only National Monument featuring a current day dog handler.” John Burnam, President of JBMF.
At the fundraiser we had the honor of meeting a … Read More »
Is America developing “Super Dogs” ?
Faster than a speeding bullet?
More powerful than a locomotive?
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?
“Look! Dashing across the battlefield!”
“It’s a dog!”
“It’s a dog?”
“It’s a Super Dog!”
Yes, it’s a Superdog! The military does in fact have Superdogs!
In a prior post I mentioned that Cairo, the Osama Bin Laden Hunter, is a Multi Purpose Canine, or an MPC. (We love our acronyms in the military!)
Currently Multi Purpose Canines are unique to our Special Operation Forces. So what makes these canines different from mainstream military working dogs?
Well, that is like asking what makes the Special Operations community (unconventional) different from the mainstream military (conventional)!
Most traditional dogs in the military–and law enforcement for that matter–are dual purpose: patrol-trained and either drug- or explosive-trained. This means they are trained to attack and can find one of two substances, drugs or explosives. … Read More »
Millitary Dog Picture of the Week (March 21, 2012): Kong Euphoria!
A U.S. Marine Military Working Dog Handler receives a critique from a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant McCoy, an instructor at the Inter-Service Advanced Skills K-9 (IASK) Course, YUMA Proving Grounds Arizona. March 14, 2012.
A U.S. Air Force Military Working Dog enjoys his Kong after running a lane at “K9 village” at ISAK Course, Yuma Proving Grounds Arizona. K9 village is a mock village designed to test a Military Working Dog Team on their search capabilities. March 14, 2012
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The Struggle between MWD Anax & MWD Dark
This is Part III of The Marc and Anax series. You may wish to read Part II or skip right back to Part I first.
A working dog is only as good as his handler. A handler is only as good as his dog. You can have incompetent handlers and you can have a dog that just doesn’t get it. Without the team…..a Military Working Dog team is useless.
Marc Whitttaker and Military Working Dog Anax were a highly effective working dog team because Marc had trained Anax properly. Anax understood what to do and was good at his tasks and Marc could “read” Anax’s signals. Marc and Anax are still a team but not a military working dog team. Anax is sitting in the kennel waiting to be shipped to Marc’s home in Texas begrudgingly to live the retired … Read More »
Women Shouldn’t Be in Combat Units!
Women shouldn’t be in combat units! Only men are in combat units!
How many times have I heard this? Enough that I now just shake my head and chuckle.
That is why I put an ass-kicking female soldier in my novel, Paws on the Ground? Why is she “humping” on patrol with combat units?
News flash! Women make up 20% of our military and are all over combat zones. They are working side by side with historically all male combat units and are engaging the enemy on a daily basis. Woman just aren’t officially “assigned” to combat units. While the debate rages across the country, I guarantee you that on this very day there are female dog handlers leading infantry patrols in Afghanistan and I bet you they are doing a kick ass job.
Today’s combat is on an asymmetrical battlefield: the fight and dangers are … Read More »
The New A-Team hits the dirt roads of Afghanistan hunting for the Taliban
Hi, everyone. This is the begining of the picture of the week column for the website. I’ll be posting pictures from the field and training of our four-legged heroes every Wednesday. This caption isn’t a real caption obviously, but I can’t resist!
If you are a handler send me your pictures at kevin@khanrahan.com with a caption and we’ll try to get you up on the site.
Oh, oh, oh: I’ve got another: “Those Taliban bastards hit the truck carrying our milkbones. Mount up, fellas! Time to take matters into our own paws!”
Photos!
Watch this space for some of my favorite photos of our soldiers and Military Working Dogs!
Military Working Dog Gabe: The Street Dog
“That yellow lab over there has thirty days. If he isn’t adopted he will have to be euthanized.”
Labrador retriever Gabe pawed at the chain-linked fence with his tattered yellow paws. He looked up at the man who was standing over him and bellowed a thunderous series of defiant barks.
“Kill me? Are you crazy man? Just let me back outside to run the streets,” thought Gabe. “I wasn’t hurting anyone out there.”
He looked around at the other dogs locked up like he was and sighed. He was in the “big dog house” like a common criminal. They had taken his freedom and now they wanted to take his life?
He cried out in pain and plopped himself down on the hard concrete floor. His low weight and dirty body didn’t hurt. His heart did. At first he didn’t … Read More »
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