There has been a persistent rumor of a dog being used in the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. A fact I could never independently verify before now.
I recently talked with a buddy of mine who I first met over 20 years ago at Ft. Benning, Georgia, “Airborne School” in 1985 when we were both just 18 years old. Only he was serving in the Navy and I was serving in the Army.
Eventually this man ended up serving on a SEAL team as a commissioned officer.
I met him recently by coincidence and we discussed many things as we sought to caught up on what happened to us over the years.
One of the subjects we touched on briefly was the raid on Bin Laden. I happened to ask him about this rumor of a dog being used.
Of course, he wouldn’t really speak to me about the subject but chose to speak in generalities instead. I knew him well enough to know he meant “read between the lines.”
Because he still has an active security clearance – I can’t use his name unfortunately. But here is what he had to say:
“SEAL team six may have had a specially trained canine as part of its mission to get Bin Laden. Such dogs don’t only sniff out bombs and explosives or serve as sentries and attack animals. They are also trained to rappel from helicopters while attached to their handlers or jump out of planes with parachutes.
“The dog, which may or may not have been on this raid, probably wore ballistic body armor, had a specially attached earpiece to take voice commands from its handler and most likely wore a head mounter infrared (night vision) camera.
The dog may or may not have also had reinforced teeth, capped with titanium. Of course, you didn’t hear any of this from me”, he said.
See related article: Military Dog Used in Bin Laden Compound Raid http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/04/military-working-dog-used-bin-laden-compound-raid/
See video: Dogs at war Osama Bin Laden Dead: SEAL’s Dogs of war https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83-SZNnXPF0
See video: The dog that cornered Osama Bin laden …not your standard canine , nor is the gear they wear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNMI8fDQGkk