A military dog serves on the front lines in Afghanistan in the film “Max,” now playing on First State movie screens.
In August, a local effort to create a permanent memorial to honor war dogs will culminate with the unveiling of a war dog memorial in Dover.
War dogs have been used by the U.S military since World War I.
Military dogs and their handlers serve as sentries and scouts, and dogs are widely used to detect odors for explosives.
Today, there are approximately 500 canines at U.S bases across the world. Eight are currently stationed at Dover Air Force Base.
Dave Skocik, spokesperson for the Delaware Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America says military dogs are credited with saving an estimated 10,000 lives in the Vietnam War.
“There’s no other creature that I can think of who’d be willing to lay his life down for you,” he says. “Not just with war dogs but even pets. How many pets do we know that we’ve been told have saved lives by alerting the owner to a fire or protecting them from a would be attacker?”
All U.S military dogs are Belgian Malinois, bred and trained at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. By the time the dogs complete training they are usually about 2 to 2 1/2 years old.
The planned 5-foot black granite memorial in Delaware will be etched with the likeness of Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Spangenberg, a dog handler at Dover Air Force Base and his war dog partner, Rico.
Skocik says the pair are heros.
“Sgt. Spangenberg and his war dog Rico both won the bronze star in Afghanistan from finding IEDs that would have injured or killed soldiers,” he says.
The War Dog Memorial will be dedicated in August at Kent County Veterans Memorial Park in Dover.