NAME:	Rufus, Target, and Sasha
SPECIES:	Mixed-breed dogs
DATE:	February 11, 2010
LOCATION:	Paktia Province, Afghanistan
SITUATION:	Suicide bomber entering army barracks
WHO WAS SAVED:	Fifty US military personnel in the 48th Infantry Brigade
LEGACY:	National media stars for unexpected defense of US troops in a war zone

It’s a truism of war that the shared peril of battle can inspire tight, lasting bonds of trust and friendship among virtual strangers. This story is about how the same thing occurred between soldiers and three stray dogs in the desolate, war-wracked hills of Afghanistan.

FRIENDSHIP IN A FOREIGN LAND
In late 2009, not far from the Pakistan border, a pack of feral dogs roamed in and around the military base of the 48th Infantry Brigade. According to Sergeant Terry Young, one dog in particular liked to join their football games. “She would come running out onto the field, wiggling her backside—it was the cutest little thing.”

The soldiers named the dog “Target” because the Afghan border police—who shared the base and had no love for dogs generally—sometimes aimed at her during rifle practice.

Another dog they named Sasha. “She was a sweetheart,” said Young.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Chris Duke made a point of feeding scraps to a third dog, whom he named Rufus. “When you’d come back from a mission,” Duke said, “you just wanted something familiar to get your mind off what you’d seen. I’d go play with Rufus.”

The three dogs lifted everyone’s spirits, so the soldiers let them stay, even though the military frowned on keeping dogs at the base. Worries about disease were one issue, but food was another. “We didn’t have any dog food,” Duke said. “We were just getting the rations as they came in, and we were in short supply at times.”

In a way, you might say the dogs really adopted the soldiers, who were the source of two scarce commodities, affection and food. As proof, in only a few short months, the strays bonded so tightly with the men that they willingly risked their lives to defend them.

AN UNWELCOME VISITOR
On the night of February 11, 2010, most of the brigade was in the main barracks enjoying a normal evening playing cards, unwinding, sleeping, and using the Internet.

Outside, a man in an Afghan border police uniform approached the barracks. Sensing something wrong, the three dogs ran to the doorway and started barking and snapping at him.

Duke said the dogs were “going crazy, barking and growling, which was abnormal.” Several soldiers tried to shout down the dogs, yelling, “Be quiet! Stop barking!”

“Target and Rufus latched onto him,” Young said. “He was able to get the door open, but that was as far as he got.”

The man was a disguised Taliban intruder. Unable to get inside and not wanting to be discovered carrying twenty-four pounds of C4 explosives, he detonated himself.

In the blast, Sasha was killed and five soldiers were wounded, including Duke. Yet none of the approximately fifty soldiers in the barracks were killed. Rufus and Target were also severely injured, with shrapnel wounds and most of their hair singed off.

“There isn’t a doubt in my mind [that the dogs] saved my life,” Duke said.

“If the dogs wouldn’t have been there that night,” Young said, “to be honest with you, I really don’t even want to think what would have transpired. [The bomber] would have killed a lot of my friends.”

In the aftermath of the explosion, the soldiers quickly tended to the wounded, including Target and Rufus, and secured the area from further attack. While quick to praise the heroism of his fellow soldiers, Duke also pointed out the irony of the incident.

“The U.S. Army spends unlimited amounts of money to make sure we have the best equipment, the best weapons, the best armored vehicles,” he said. “And the one thing that saves your life is a free-of-charge mutt that you really don’t do much but pay him attention and give him a piece of jerky every now and then. It’s kind of strange. It was surreal.”

BRINGING THE HEROES HOME
Today, we can only speculate about how the dogs sensed that the disguised man was dangerous. Duke said the dogs didn’t normally confront newcomers—like trained guard dogs might—so it seems they responded to something specific about this person.

Scientist Marc Bekoff said the animals were probably alerted by “composite signals” from the man. “Dogs sense a fluidity of movement or gate, postures, gestures, and facial expressions. Definitely odor comes in. This man was probably exuding the fear odor. They may have been reading the man’s discomfort, not his intent.”

We don’t yet know where this ability in dogs to read emotions comes from, though many feel it is one result of domestication. Whatever the reason, Bekoff said, “Dogs just have a keen ability to read us. They just know. Some scientists don’t like saying that because we don’t have the data. But I don’t know anybody who would deny it.”

In any case, despite being feral animals in a war zone who had themselves been shot at, the dogs demonstrated the ultimate loyalty to the soldiers. The soldiers, in turn, felt extremely loyal to them.

Over the following months, Sergeant Young and Sergeant Duke nursed their injured dogs back to health. Then, when the soldiers finished their tours of duty, they wanted to bring Target and Rufus, respectively, back to live with them in the United States. This proved so difficult that, initially, they had to leave the dogs behind in Afghanistan.

Even putting aside the significant expense involved, flying unlicensed animals from a foreign country is a bureaucratic nightmare. But the soldiers were on a mission. They partnered with several veterans’ charities, who helped them raise funds and promote their cause. In particular, Hope for the Warriors helped raise the money necessary to fly the dogs to the United States. Said Robin Kelleher, a charity spokeswoman, “This is the most unique wish we’ve ever granted.”

CELEBRATION AND MOURNING
Rufus came to live with Duke—along with his wife, infant son, and three other dogs—in a small Georgia town, where Duke joined the county fire department. Duke said, “To think that I’m going to have [Rufus] for the rest of my life —it’s exciting.”

Tragically, Target’s return did not end so happily. In November 2010, a few months after arriving in Arizona to live with Young, Target escaped from Young’s backyard. It was assumed that Target, unused to confinement, had jumped the fence in order to roam. Young hadn’t gotten an identification tag for Target yet, so when the dog was captured a few days later, she was taken to the pound.

Frantic to find her, Young eventually located Target and made an appointment to pick her up. But the night before Young was scheduled to come, a shelter worker confused Target with another dog and mistakenly euthanized her.

Young and his family were heartbroken. When Rufus and Target first arrived in the states, they had received a hero’s welcome. The national media had broadcast their amazing story, and just a month before, Young and Target had appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, condolences poured in from around the country.

Young had told Oprah that Rufus and Target had “earned the right to be treated like soldiers, so that’s exactly how we treated them.”

In the end, Young grieved for Target as if he were a soldier, too.