Dogs of war

Dogs have been in the military since 600 BC. And they do some serious work

This week, President Donald Trump shared a declassified photo of a military working dog that was injured during the weekend raid that took down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria.
Although details about the K-9 aren't public -- the Pentagon has said the dog's name needs to remain classified due to their affiliation with a classified unit -- it's a welcome reminder that military working dogs are an important and ever-present thread throughout America's military history.
In fact, dogs have been assisting military efforts all over the world for thousands of years. Here are some other things you may not know about these highly-trained canines.
...When most people think of modern military working dogs, they may think of a bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois at a forward operating base somewhere overseas. That's definitely one facet of the job, but it's far from the only task military working dogs perform, and far from the only kind of military working dog to lend their services.
Major Matthew Kowalski is the 341st Training Squadron commander at Joint Base San Antonio in Lackland, Texas. The 341 TRS operates the Department of Defense's Military Working Dog Program, which is overseen by the United States Air Force. This group is responsible for virtually everything related to military working dogs -- their procurement, their training, their handlers, their assignments, and whatever services they may need after their time as a working dog is over.