All interviews in this book were conducted between August 2013 and April 2014, either in person, by phone, via Skype, or by e-mail, with occasional questions answered via text or Facebook.
I spent about eleven days in November to December 2013 living with the Willinghams, who graciously opened their home to me so I could get to know Chris, Jill, the children, and, of course, Lucca. This is where the most extensive interviewing of Chris Willingham took place, but it continued for months afterward on an almost-daily basis via e-mail and phone.
Special Forces soldier Jake Parker’s name has been changed in this book, as have the names of the two other Green Berets I wrote about. “Jake” asked not to use real names of the members of his Special Forces team, and I am honoring his request. There’s a reason Green Berets are known as “the quiet professionals.”
If I were starting to learn about military dogs from scratch, there would be a litany of sources I would cite in this section. However, I have become something of a civilian version of a subject matter expert on military dogs thanks to my previous book, Soldier Dogs. I keep on top of all things military dog on a daily basis and am in regular communication with many in the military working dog community. My knowledge of the topic meant I didn’t have to pore over reams of papers and books, and interview countless dog experts, in order to gain insight into these dog teams.
That said, I did rely on dozens of articles, books, videos, websites, government documents, and PowerPoint presentations about various topics addressed in this book—particularly certain moments in the Iraq War about which I was not well versed. In this section, I cite primarily from sources that contain information that’s not widely disseminated.
A word about dialogue in Top Dog. Since I was not there for most of the action, I relied on descriptions from those who were. They did their best to portray conversations, and I took it from there. Because of this, the book cannot always have exact quotes, but I did my best to capture the conversations and dialogue. The same with the scenes and settings. I was able to supplement the descriptions from those I interviewed with photographs and videos they provided, as well as finding details online and elsewhere.
This book captures the highlights of Lucca’s story. She had numerous IED finds I didn’t write about, was in more firefights, and had many other book-worthy experiences—even after retirement—that couldn’t fit into the pages of this book. I’m sure she and Chris Willingham will go on to have many more, because that’s how they roll.
CHAPTER 1
Interviews with former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, former Special Forces Sergeant Jake Parker, and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham.
CHAPTER 2
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, Jill Willingham, and Elden Willingham.
CHAPTER 3
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, and former Army Captain Danielle Roche.
CHAPTERS 4 AND 5
Broadwell, Paula, with Vernon Loeb. All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. New York: The Penguin Press, 2012.
“Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable with Lieutenant Colonel Ken Adgie,” transcript. September 27, 2007, http://www.defense.gov/home/blog/docs/0927adgie_transcript.pdf.
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham; Army Colonel (Ret.) Peter Mansoor; Army Captain Nathan S. “Shane” Chumbler, DVM; and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Lentz.
Kagan, Frederick W. “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq.” American Enterprise Institute Online, January 5, 2007, http://www.aei.org/papers/foreign-and-defense-policy/regional/middle-east-and-north-africa/choosing-victory-a-plan-for-success-in-iraq-paper.
Mansoor, Peter R. Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
MRE Info. “MRE Menus.” Accessed June 17, 2014, http://www.mreinfo.com/us/mre/mre-menus.html.
Partlow, Joshua, and John Ward Anderson. “Troops Pushing South Through Insurgent Area.” The Washington Post. June 22, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062100597.html.
Petraeus, David H. “CENTCOM Update, Center for a New American Security.” Multimedia presentation. June 11, 2009, http://www.cnas.org/files/multimedia/documents/Petraeus%20Slides.pdf.
Rising, David. “U.S. troop buildup felt in Iraq hotspots.” USA Today. September 4, 2007, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-09-04-3523744152_x.htm.
Roggio, Bill. “Arab Jabour: ‘This Is al Qaeda Country.’” The Long War Journal. September 22, 2007, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/09/arab_jabour_this_is.php#.
West, Bing. The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq. New York: Random House, 2008.
CHAPTER 6
“DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Lynch from Iraq,” transcript. July 6, 2007, http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4007.
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, former Army Captain Danielle Roche, and Kevin Wiens.
Report on the death of Kory Wiens was merged information from two official military reports.
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, Jill Willingham, and former Army Captain Danielle Roche.
CHAPTER 8
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Elden Willingham, Jill Willingham, and Marine Sergeant William “Billy” Soutra Jr.
Lamothe, Dan, and Andrew deGrandpré. “MARSOC team honored for breaking Taliban ambush.” Military Times. December 4, 2012, http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20121204/NEWS/212040324/MARSOC-team-honored-breaking-Taliban-ambush.
CHAPTER 9
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Julie Schrock, former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, former Marine Sergeant Alfred Brenner, Megan Brenner, and Marine Sergeant Branden Deleon.
CHAPTER 10
“A Birthday Message from the Commandant of the Marine Corps.” Accessed on June 19, 2014, https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/birthday-message-commandant-marine-corps.
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chuck Rotenberry, former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight, and Jill Willingham.
Sgt Grit Staff. “Marine Corps Birthday Message.” Accessed June 19, 2014, http://www.grunt.com/corps/scuttlebutt/marine-corps-stories/marine-corps-birthday-message.
Yount, Shannon. “Mark Wahlberg visits troops in Afghanistan.” DVIDS. December 19, 2010, http://www.dvidshub.net/news/62281/mark-wahlberg-visits-troops-afghanistan#.U5OrsZRdUZ2.
Burton, Janice. “Game Changers: ANA Special Forces Impact the Course of Afghanistan.” Special Warfare. October–December 2011, http://www.soc.mil/swcs/SWmag/archive/SW2404/SW2404GameChangers.html.
Foreman, Jonathan. “The Meaning of ‘Green on Blue’ Attacks in Afghanistan.” National Review. September 18, 2012, http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/322428/meaning-green-blue-attacks-afghanistan-jonathan-foreman.
Gentile, Carmen. “In Afghanistan, special units do the dirty work.” USA Today. November 9, 2011, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/story/2011-11-09/special-forces-key-in-afghanistan/51145690/1.
Interviews with former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, former Special Forces Sergeant Jake Parker, Marine Sergeant Daniel Cornier, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Lentz.
Training Developers of Training Development Division 1, “Inside the SFCQ,” http://www.specialforcesassociation.org/inside-the-sfqc.
CHAPTER 12
Department of Health and Human Services. “Explosions and Blast Injuries: A Primer for Clinicians.” Accessed June 19, 2014, http://www.cdc.gov/masstrauma/preparedness/primer.pdf.
Interviews with former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez; former Special Forces Sergeant Jake Parker; Marine Sergeant Daniel Cornier; Marine Gunnery Sergeant Matthew Lentz; Army Lieutenant-Colonel James Giles III; Army Captain Nathan S. “Shane” Chumbler, DVM; Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham; and Jill Willingham.
UXO Info. “Ordnance Hazards.” Accessed June 19, 2014, http://www.uxoinfo.com/uxoinfo/ordhazards.cfm.
CHAPTER 13
Alho, Olli. “A guide to Finnish customs and manners.” November 2002, http://finland.fi/public/default.aspx?contentid=160036.
eDiplomat. “Finland.” http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_fi.htm.
“Finland,” http://wikitravel.org/en/Finland.
Goodavage, Maria. “Dispatches from Helsinki: Hero Dog Amputee Reunites with First Handler.” Soldier Dogs. July 12, 2012, http://www.soldierdogs.com/2012/07/12/dispatches-from-helsinki-hero-dog-amputee-reunites-with-first-handler/.
Interviews with former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Nicholas Kuchova, Jim Palmersheim, Marine Colonel Tim Raynor, Jill Willingham, and Kalevi Soderlund.
Orchard Group Productions. “American Airlines Sendoff for Lucca.” Accessed June 19, 2014, http://vimeo.com/46908687.
“Welcome to the University of Joensuu!” http://www.mendelu.cz/dok_server/slozka.pl?id=39552;download=41541.
CHAPTER 14
American Airlines. “In Support of All Who Serve.” http://www.airlinereporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/INITIATIVES-BROCHURE-2013_Final.pdf.
Interviews with Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham, Jill Willingham, former Marine Corporal Juan “Rod” Rodriguez, Marine Colonel Tim Raynor, Nicholas Kuchova, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Chuck Rotenberry, Liz Rotenberry, Autumn Swank, Crystal Fenn, Elden Willingham, former Security Forces airman Brian Kolfage, Army Captain (Ret.) Leslie Nicole Smith, Marine Sergeant William “Billy” Soutra Jr., Kevin Wiens, and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Kristopher Knight.