WAR DOGS are as old as war itself. The Ancient Romans deployed huge mastiff-like hounds called "Molossus," which were capable of knocking a man off a galloping horse and disemboweling him. However, turnabout was fair play, as in the case of the Roman General Gaius Marius, who was routed at the battle of Vercellae in Gaul by a team of snarling, snapping hounds under the command of women handlers! In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors used kill-trained Greyhounds against Native Americans, ensuring their conquest of the New World. But today the term "war dog" is a misnomer because the modern canine soldier is trained to save lives, not take them. American war dogs help our troops avoid potentially deadly encounters. They work as sentries on sensitive military installations, or lead their handlers to hidden caches of weapons, explosives, and drugs.

Thirty thousand dogs have served America in the past fifty years. Civilian dogs were volunteered by their families for service in World War II, and they were considered personnel by the Defense Department. Some of them even were promoted to outrank their handlers. At war's end, these dogs received Honorable Discharges and returned to civilian life.

WWI Hero, Stubby.
During the Korean War, a study concluded that war dogs cut casualties by more than 65% wherever they worked on the front line. One scout dog named York completed 148 combat patrols without a single loss of life. But from this time forward all of our war dogs would be classified as "equipment," and stripped of their ranks and honorary medals.
Three thousand scout and sentry dogs went to Vietnam to protect our troops, and in the course of the war they saved over ten thousand lives. But fewer than 200 dogs ever saw American soil again. Because they were now considered "equipment," they either were euthanized in country (under orders from our government), or they were handed over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which slaughtered them for meat, bartered the hides for Viet Cong bounties, or let them perish from neglect.

Today, America spends more money on its pet dogs than any society in the world--America also is the only major world power to refuse official acknowledgement to its dogs of war, either through a memorial in our nation's capitol, or through a special commemorative stamp. Even a request to plant a small tree on the grounds of Arlington Cemetery has been denied. There is no special honorary medal for war dogs (and their handlers) who serve with valor.