Trained at the same school, many handlers have been attached to other branches of the military to support them. Air Force, Navy, and Marine handlers are currently supporting Army infantry units in Iraq. In Afghanistan, a Air Force dog handler was attached to the Special Forces team that was the first American force to enter Kabul after the defeat of Taliban.
Allen G. Breed/Associated Press http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/dec/31/grim-milestone-us-deaths-iraq-war-time-reflect/ " In his last e-mail home, Adam Cann wrote his dad in Florida about some easy money he'd just won. The Marine sergeant had made a wager with Cpl. Brendan Poelaert on the New Year's Day 2006 Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game; even a rare drop kick couldn't stop Miami from pulling off a 28-26 victory. "Brendan is a big Pats fan," Cann wrote from Ramadi, Iraq. "and we bet 100$ on the game. haha!!!" Cann's grandfather was a Navy corpsman in World War II, and the boy spent many hours listening to stories in the family's "war room" - a den festooned with weapons and flags. Looking for a "real challenge" after graduation from South Plantation (Fla.) High School in 2000, Adam followed his older brother into the Marines. Tattooed over his heart was the Latin motto from the Cann family coat of arms: "Perimus Licitus" - which can be translated as "let us die for things legitimate." Cann went to military police school and later to the service's elite K-9 training center - where he met his canine teammate, Bruno, at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in December 2002. The German shepherd's bomb-sniffing abilities were unquestioned, but Bruno was skittish around people. He had none of the attack instincts required of a true military working dog. "That's a dog that can't be fixed," thought Jason Cannon, a friend. But by the time they were ready for deployment to Iraq in the spring of 2004, Bruno was as fierce a warrior as his handler. "He transformed that dog from nothing to a great police K-9...," Cannon says. "They were a really tight team." Still, beneath Cann's body armor and bravado beat the heart of a clown. Cannon still chuckles when he recalls the time his friend poured sour goat's milk into their interpreter's boots, among other practical jokes. In 2005, Cann re-upped, volunteering for a second tour in Iraq. He and Bruno were sent to Ramadi with the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, attached to the Army's 109th Infantry Regiment. Poelaert, of East Kingston, N.H., was on his first tour of duty, with his Belgian Malinois dog, and he looked up to Cann. "He really taught me how . . . to be a good Marine, I guess," the 22-year-old says. "He was fearless in everything he did." On Jan. 5, those two and another handler were at the old Ramadi Glass and Ceramic Works, where close to 1,000 Iraqi police recruits were awaiting screening. Suddenly, Bruno began barking ferociously at one man in line. Cann rushed over to confront him. The next thing Poelaert remembers is waking up in the dust, covered in blood. About five yards away, Cann lay dead, the critically injured Bruno resting protectively on his partner's chest. The man in line had been wearing a vest packed with 40 pounds of explosives and ball bearings. Forcing the suicide bomber to detonate his load prematurely, Cann took the blast's full force. An Army lieutenant colonel and five dozen others also died. Poelaert's entire right side was pockmarked with shrapnel, but he says Cann's sacrifice saved his life. "He saved a lot of people that day," Poelaert says. "We always had each other's backs, and that day he paid the ultimate price so I'd survive." Cann was awarded a posthumous Bronze Star with a combat "V" device for valor. Officials say he is the first K-9 handler killed in action since the Vietnam War. Back at Camp Pendleton, Bruno has fully recovered and has been assigned to a new handler. Poelaert's injuries will force him to leave the Marines."
Photo taken hours before Sgt Cann's death. |
