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True heroes -- Rejected by Afghans, mutts save U.S. lives
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Sgt. Terry Young, a Valentine High School graduate, joined the Army National Guard in McCook. His wife, Melissa, is the daughter of Mitch and Candy Farr of McCook. Young transferred to the Lincoln 313th medical corps and has been serving in Afghanistan since July. His unit is due back in the United States in March. The following is his written account of some unusual heroes.
by Sgt. Terry Young
My name is Sergeant Terry Young, a medic with HHC 1-158th Infantry out of Mesa, Ariz., and I am going to tell you about an amazing group of very unlikely heroes.
Our heroes' names do not begin with Iron, Super or Incredible. These heroes have the names of Sasha, Target and Rufus. Our heroes were born and have survived in a land time has forgotten about ... Afghanistan, particularly a district known as Dand Patan or you may see it spelled Dand Aw Patan. Either way, only the strong survive in this wasteland just a few hundred meters from the Pakistan border. We as U.S. Army soldiers are members of Bravo Co. 2-121 Infantry out of Newnan, Ga., and I am just along for the ride helping out Bravo Co. as a medic.
Now, everyone knows that soldiers all the time do wondrous feats of heroism and show their courage in fire fights, bomb attacks and whatever else is thrown their way in an area of conflict. It's the little things that get thrown into the equation around the soldiers that really stick out in my mind though, the civilians who put themselves in harm's way to help out a soldier or who went out of their way to keep the soldiers safe. In this case our "civilians" were three mangy Afghan mutts. Now, I will give you a little history behind our unique situation so maybe you can see things like you were looking through our eyes.
Dogs in the country of Afghanistan, according to an interpreter who has lived here his whole life and now works for the U.S. Army, are considered unclean animals and treated as such.
Dogs are shot, beaten, have rocks and sticks and anything else inhabitants of this land can get their hands on, thrown at them. Local custom has it that if you are bitten by a dog, you cannot get into heaven. That might have something to do with their (lack of) popularity.
This particular group of dogs; Sasha, Target and Rufus came to be on our particular compound by chance, but as Americans you know how much we love our dogs and well, in some cases the locals think we are crazy because of this. We feed these dogs from our own plates, even when we have very little to eat here. The locals hit and kick these dogs counting the days until they get to meet Allah.
Needless to say, the dogs grow to love U.S. soldiers very quickly and actually become very protective of us to the point these dogs will bark, growl at and chase Afghan Border Police if they get too close to us, which makes our job difficult sometimes as we are mentors for the ABP.
Target is a tan, almost golden, Labrador-looking female who was first on the scene. Target was a sweetheart from day one; she would come up to us, as we walked around the compound, with her tail wagging, tucked between her legs and her ears laid down. Target was a sweetheart and would instantly warm you up with her bashful ways. Target got her name ... er, let me rephrase that, earned her name because one day shortly after we arrived here, the ABP decided to start shooting dogs outside the compound and Target happened to be out there that day and was shot twice.
This dog limped around outside the compound for days, but never went down for the count. Target made her way back onto the compound and miraculously was back to her old ways in no time. I thought it was amazing that she made it through a drive-by Afghan shooting but no, then this dog was hit by an ABP truck. We thought that for sure would be the end of Target but she recovered from that also. I told you she EARNED her name.
Sasha was the next dog to make a splash in our lives. Sasha was a puppy that came out of nowhere really, but we could tell that there was a bond between Sasha and Target, a lot of us believe they are probably mother and daughter. Sasha is our baby, she was just a few weeks old when she was first discovered on the compound.
She is so taken care of, she got to sleep in the barracks with us for awhile, until those in command said we shouldn't have dogs sleeping where we sleep for hygiene reasons. So we proceeded to make a sleeping area for Sasha near the big portable heater that heats our barracks. Sasha loves that, not as much as sleeping inside, but it is a nice compromise. Again, I stress, Sasha is OUR baby, we all watch over her.
Rufus was the last one to arrive on the scene and his name was the most fitting. This big lug has big ol' ears that flop over and such a kind personality. Rufus and Sasha instantly hit it off, I strongly believe that Rufus was probably Sasha's dad because it seemed that Target and Rufus already knew each other by the way they interacted with each other.
Rufus very much dislikes the ABP and is always chasing them and their vehicles, but who are we to disagree? Like I said before, I'm sure he has received his share of lumps and bruises at their hand.
Any given day you would find these three running around the compound playing with each other or just laying around soaking up the sun. They knew they were safe as long as they were together and they had the U.S. Army soldiers taking care of them.
Then came the night of Feb. 11, 2010. A man wearing a bomb vest made his way onto the Afghan Border Police compound somehow (details still under investigation) and planned on walking into the U.S. Army barracks and detonating himself.
It was approximately 2100 hours and the man was making his way across the parade field on the north end of the barracks.
I know you have heard how animals, especially dogs, can sense evil, well, our trio of heroes sensed something in this man and attacked with extreme prejudice. Rufus and Target were the first two to reach the man as he was just a few feet from the north entrance of the barracks. Inside, the soldiers went about their nightly routine of calling home on the one phone we have and surfing the Internet using the five Internet cables we have to use with our personal laptops.
These items are set up in the long hallway that runs the full length of the barracks building. Soldiers were standing in doorways conversing with buddies and joking around about the day's events, work details they were on, missions they had run and whatever else soldiers can talk about to pass the time. Meanwhile, back outside the north entrance, Rufus and Target had actually gotten ahold of our suicide bomber; Rufus on one leg and pregnant Target on the other with Sasha barking in the background, like the big dog she thinks she is.
The bomber was kicking violently trying to rid himself of the dogs so he could complete his mission and go meet Allah, which is what suicide bombers believe is their reward for sacrificing themselves in such a way. The bomber, just before opening the door, was able to get Target off of his left leg, but Rufus was still strongly latched onto his right. The man, realizing that his mission was going to be a failure because he could not drag Rufus any further, decided to detonate himself just outside the north entrance with the door open sending shrapnel down the long hallway like the barrel of a gun.
Because of these brave dogs, who somehow knew their U.S. soldiers were in trouble, only five soldiers were MEDEVAC'd because of the blast. Sgt. First Class Gary Ware and Staff Sgt. Marty Brownlee were most critically wounded, but later flown back to the United States in stable condition. Staff Sgt. Tony Davis, Staff Sgt. Charles Lancaster and Sgt. Christopher Duke all suffered serious wounds and were MEDEVAC'd to a higher level of care. Staff Sgt. Davis, Staff Sgt. Lancaster and Sgt. Duke have all shown their resolve and have since returned to the unit back at Dand Patan.
I have asked these soldiers if they feel the dogs played a part in saving countless lives that night and all of them respond with a resounding, "YES!"
If the dogs had not kept the bomber from walking into the barracks uninhibited, he probably would have walked right to where all those soldiers were on the phone and Internet and detonated himself. Many more soldiers would have been dead and wounded. Guaranteed.
Rufus was found on the compound the next day and myself, along with Sgt. Jason Abercrombie and Sgt. Daniel Buzzard operated on him to suture and clean all the shrapnel wounds he sustained. Rufus is getting along great now and doing very well, getting stronger with each passing day.
Target was not in as bad of shape as Rufus, but our biggest concern with her was the fact that she was pregnant and it was unknown how the blast would affect the unborn puppies.
Our worries were put to rest two days later when Target gave birth to four little bundles of joy. Sasha was our only fallen hero from that night. Sasha was found the next day with too severe of injuries and had to be put down.
This hurt the most as we all had raised Sasha since she was pup. I would take time each day just to watch her play with Rufus and Target, it was almost therapeutic and helped to bring a little peace of mind on some wild trying days. Sasha is missed greatly.
Target and Rufus are now a huge part of our lives more than ever. All the dogs will forever hold a special spot in our hearts and be a small part of this huge dysfunctional family known as Bravo Co. 2-121 Infantry.
Only a few days have passed since the bombing but life goes on almost as nothing has happened, that's just how the Army has to be, you can't dwell on what was; just what is. Everyone goes out of their way now though to make sure to give Rufus a scratch and an "atta boy."
Target is treated like a queen and has her meals brought to her by soldiers, not to mention, her own crib she now has made out of military equipment shipping boxes for her and the pups. Nothing but the best for two of the finest four-legged heroes you could ever hope for.
Oh, and just in case you didn't catch the irony, let me reiterate that an Afghanistan person cannot get into heaven if they are bitten by a dog, well ... thanks to Rufus and Target, our bomber's reservations won't be in heaven, probably somewhere much warmer!