Late last year the Military Channel aired a documentary about US soldiers in Iraq interacting with dogs who were born into the war zone. The documentary does an amazing job (I think) of portraying not only how awesome dogs are, but what extreme stressors soldiers are forced to deal with both from the enemy and friendly forces.
In the midst of the chaos of war and the depression of seeing and experiencing horrible events, a number of soldiers encountered stray dogs around Iraq. The documentary focuses on how these dogs provided much needed relief to these soldiers.
In one extreme case, a soldier and his mother recount that shortly after befriending one of these dogs, he was told he could not keep the dog (army regulations at the time disallowed soldiers keeping animals at the base (not sure if that has changed since)) so the dog left. Some time after he lost 5 of his team members to I think an IED explosion (I recently watched The Hurt Locker so excuse the military lingo) and that night the dog returned to him. How without that dog he and his mother felt he easily could have slipped into a very dark place.
Aside from the therapeutic help these dogs provided the soldiers, the documentary then recounts how family members of soldiers contacted the SPCA (being an ASPCA member I am proud my small donations make a tangible difference) to help bring these dogs from Iraq to the US to the soldiers' families.
What is also impressive, and a bit quizzical, is that the Military channel aired this since the doc makes the Army seem heartless given the anti-pet regulations, showing a doc about soldiers breaking orders, and showing that the Army even sent "vector control units" (dog and cat exterminators) to rid bases of these animals. I was also taken back by the graphic and grim imagery and mood of the doc, really shows some horrifying sights and disturbing mental states of soldiers.
This is a great doc to watch about dogs, those trying to deepen their knowledge of what soldiers experience in war, or just to learn more about the state of affairs around the world. Anyone who is looking for other great docs I'd suggest vbs.tv.
Lemme know what you think if you get a chance to see this or if you have already. For those who know first or second hand any soldiers who had similar experiences with war dogs I would love to hear them.
leph555
This is why I always change the channel when those animal cruelty commercials come on
But you got me this time, where is the donations page?
Jarvmeister
I've searched the usual places, but no joy. Would love to see this, anyone know of a location, other than the military channel that this may be available from?
david.michael
quote:
Originally posted by Jarvmeister
I've searched the usual places, but no joy. Would love to see this, anyone know of a location, other than the military channel that this may be available from?
+1 to that, definitely want to see this, as well as get it to my girlfriend since this is right up her alley.
tubularbills
zewad saved a dog when he went to afghan. true story.
yukii
gona tune in :p
msz
Soldier throws puppy off clif
Sandsider
quote:
Originally posted by david.michael
+1 to that, definitely want to see this, as well as get it to my girlfriend since this isright up her alley .
