Saving Private Sarbi
Page 23
For more on the early days of the Australian war dogs and for stories about the longest serving Australian canine veterans of the Vietnam War—Marcus, Caesar and Tiber—see Peter Haran, Trackers. Also see the ‘Combat Profiles’ section on the website for the Australian Defence Force Trackers and War Dogs Association (ADFTWDA)
CHAPTER 7
‘[Their capabilities] cannot be replicated by man or machine . . .’
‘Herbie Finally Home to Rest’, Australian Government, Department of Defence, press release, 30 June 2010
‘The best technology for sniffing . . .’
Grace Jean, ‘Building Miniature “Noses” to Sniff Explosives’, National Defense (US), business and technology magazine of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), October 2007
‘We trust these dogs more than metal detectors . . .’
Jason Gutierrez, ‘Dogs of War Save Lives in Afghanistan’, Discovery News, American Free Press, 28 January 2010
‘They are the only weapon system . . .’
Michael G. Lemish, War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism, Potomac Books, Dulles VA, 2008, p. 197
‘. . . up to 25,000’
Meg Purtell, ‘Sniffer Dogs’, Stateline, ABC Television, 14 March 2008
‘. . . such as ammonium nitrate . . .’
Alan Cullison and Yaroslav Trofimov, ‘Karzai Bans Ingredient of Tali-ban’s Roadside Bombs’, The Wall Street Journal, 3 February 2010
‘like sticking two total strangers . . .’
Corrine Boer, ‘Dogs of War’, Army: The Soldier’s Newspaper, 15 May 2008
‘. . . make their own leashes . . .’
Australian Sapper, Head of Corps, Royal Australian Engineers, Moore-bank NSW, 2010 edition, p. 52
Corrine Boer tells the story of the dominant golden retriever named Mandy in the above article, ‘Dogs of War’.
‘. . . Dookie and Jane . . .’
Andrew Pierce, ‘Hug for Queen Elizabeth’s first corgi’, The Telegraph (UK), 1 October 2007
CHAPTER 8
Material on the history of dogs in war was drawn from works cited in the text and also by the following authors (in alphabetical order):
John C. Burnam, A Soldier’s Best Friend: Scout Dogs and Their Handlers in the Vietnam War, Union Square Press, New York, 2008
Stanley Coren, The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events, Free Press, New York, 2002
Brian Dennis, Kirby Larson, Mary Nethery, Nubs: The True Story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle, Little, Brown and Company, London, 2009
Tracy L. English, The Quiet Americans: A History of Military Working Dogs, Office of History, Lackland Air Force Base, Lackland TX
Michael G. Lemish, War Dogs: A History of Loyalty and Heroism, Potomac Books, Dulles VA, 2008
Frances E. Ruffin, Dog Heroes: Military Dogs, Bearport Publishing, New York, 2007
‘Attila the Hun relied on dogs . . .’
Lemish, War Dogs, p. 3
‘. . . more than 19,000 family pets . . .’
Frances E. Ruffin, Dog Heroes, p. 13
‘. . . air assault was a 30,000 foot leap . . .’
Rebecca Frankel, ‘War Dog’, Foreign Policy, 4 May 2011
For one story about Sasha Rufus and Target, see the press release issued by charity organisation Hope For The Warriors titled ‘Army Guardsman reunites with lifesaving Afghani dogs’, 2010
‘they were our babies’
‘Rufus, Target and Sasha save US soldiers’, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Harpo Productions, 4 October 2010
‘I think we underestimate . . .’
‘UK Army Dog may have died of a broken heart’, Fox News, 10 March 2011
‘. . . read human gestures and behaviour . . .’
Randi Kaye, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, 18 November 2010
‘By the end of 2011 . . .’
Emily Moser and Michael McCulloch, ‘Canine scent detection of human cancers: A review of methods and accuracy’, Journal of Veterinary Behavior [US], Vol. 5, No. 3, May/June 2010
‘Early successes with canine scent detection . . .’
Moser and McCulloch, ‘Canine scent detection’
‘It may well be that, someday in the future . . .’
Stanley Coren, How To Speak Dog, p. 185
‘We often refer to our dogs . . .’
Sandra Lee, ‘What’s up, dog?, Sunday Magazine, The Sunday Herald Sun, 17 July 2009
‘Trakr came to a sudden stop . . .’
Genelle Guzman-McMillan, Angel In The Rubble, Inspired Living/Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2011,
‘There is some anecdotal evidence . . .’
Sandra Lee, ‘What’s up, dog?’
‘community centre bulletin board’
Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog
‘. . . “read the headlines” . . .’
Stanley Coren, How To Speak Dog, Mastering The Art Of Dog–Human Communication, Free Press, New York, 2000 p. 186
CHAPTER 9
‘. . . an estimated $90,000’
Max Blenkin, ‘Dog Killed on Afghan Duty’, The Age, 6 September 2007
‘$40,000 a year . . .’
‘Along with a troop surge in Afghanistan, a dog surge: along with a dog surge, a food dilemma’, The Los Angeles Times, 25 January 2010
‘highly specialized piece of equipment’
Adrienne Killingsworth, ‘Military working dogs: A tribute to Ardy’, US Army, 11 May 2010
‘engineer stores’
Peter Haran, Trackers, p. 57
CHAPTER 10
Material about terrorists using violence against non-combatants was drawn from Jessica Stern, The Ultimate Terrorists, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1999
‘More than 4500 athletes from 71 countries . . .’
Michael Tafe, ‘Precinct Security Planning: Lessons Learnt—Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games’, Speech delivered at the Mass Transport, Mass Gathering and Precinct Security Conference, 8 November 2007
‘Soldiers from the IRR . . .’ Connections, Defence, Science and Technology Organisation, May 2006
‘. . . dukhi and dushman . . .’
Sandra Lee, 18 Hours: The True Story of an SAS War Hero, Harper–Collins, Pymble NSW, 2006,
‘By 23 September . . .’
‘Australian Special Forces conduction Operations in Afghanistan’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, MECC 230/05, 23 September 2005
‘. . . pushing 70 kilometres north . . .’
Major General Michael Hindmarsh, Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 27 September 2006
‘It was akin to poking an ant bed with a stick’
Major General Michael Hindmarsh, press conference 2006
‘And more dangerous than anything . . .’
Major General Michael Hindmarsh, press conference 2006
‘it is a distortion to use the word Taliban . . .’
Bing West, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan, Random House, New York, 2011, pp. 7–8
‘wanted to make life difficult’
Presentation of the Military Order of William to Captain Marco Kroon, Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands, Directorate of Information and Communication, The Hague, 29 May 2009
‘The threat is ever-present . . .’
Paul McGeough, ‘SAS combatants strike deep into Taliban heartland’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 2005
‘There were about 80 IED incidents . . .’
‘ADP Prepared for Improvised Explosive Device Threat’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, MECC 141/06, 29 June 2006
‘becoming more technical and constantly updated . . .’
Major General Michael Hindmarsh, press conference 2006
‘. . . were trained to mitigate the threat of IEDs. Every EOD . . .’
‘Canberra cancelled robot unit for bombs’, Department of Defence response to article by Mark Dodd, The Australian, 6 November 2007
‘The work of the Counter IED Task Force . . .’
‘ADF prepared for improvised explosive device threat’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, MECC 141/06, 29 June 2006
For more on the first deployment to Afghanistan of Explosive Detection Dogs Sam and Jasmine, visit the website of The Australian Defence Force Trackers and War Dog Association (ADFT WDA)
‘He’s your best friend, he’s your best mate . . .’
Catherine Ellis, ‘Sniffer Dogs’, Behind The News, 1 April 2008
‘You need to be able to tell when your dog has found . . .’
Catherine Ellis, ‘Sniffer Dogs’
‘I found this part of the deployment really hard.’
George Hulse, Interviews with War Dog Operatives, Series 4, Profile 4— Afghanistan, Corporal John Cannon—Royal Australian Engineers
CHAPTER 11
114 ‘Weekly reviews of the latest information and intelligence . . .’
Australian Sapper, 2007 edition, p. 27
‘The US Army had lost 103 U.S. soldiers to IEDs.’
Anthony Cordesman and Emma Davies, Iraq’s Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, 2008, p. 698
117 ‘. . . sent them to the Combined Explosives Exploitation Centre in
Kandahar . . .’ Haydn Barlow, ‘Wired For Action’, Army: The Soldiers’ Newspaper, 20 September 2007
117 ‘a mini arms race . . .’
Russell Maddalena, Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 10 May 2007
117 ‘He studied the Australians’ rules of engagement . . .’
‘Australian soldiers kill truck driver’, 26 July 2007
117 ‘. . . the first Standard Operating Procedure of the task force . . .’
Australian Sapper, 2007 edition, p. 9
118 ‘in the conservative south . . .’
Sarah Chayes, The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban, Penguin, New York, 2006, p. 233
‘The need to secure revenge . . .’
Mohammad Yousaf and Mark Adkin, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower, Casemate, Haverton PA, 1991, 2001, p. 34
‘Pashtun history is filled with heroes . . .’
Owais Tohid and Scott Baldauf, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 June 2004
‘betraying each other on a daily basis’
Anonymous, Hunting al-Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment, Zenith Press, Minneapolis MN, 2005
‘It’s an incredible story of hope . . .’
Kelly Ryan, ‘Plea to save hero dog from Afghan war’, The Herald Sun, 20 May 2010
CHAPTER 12
‘a dusty shit-hole’
Paul McGeough, ‘SAS combatants strike deep into Taliban heartland’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 September 2005
‘. . . established by a United States Marine Expeditionary Unit . . .’
Global Security.org, Forward Operating Base Ripley / Kamp Holland
‘Stay with your weapon, always’
Al Green, ‘Home Sweet Home, The Special Operations Task Group’s first days at Camp Russell’, Army: The Soldiers’ Newspaper, n.d. 2005
‘We must outsmart those who want . . .’
Haydn Barlow, ‘RTF2 takes the reins’, Army: The Soldiers’ Newspaper, 3 May 2007
‘. . . there was no mobile telephone coverage . . .’
‘The Dutch Engagement in Uruzgan, 2006–2010: A Socio-political Assessment’, The Liaison Office (independent Afghan NGO), August 2010
‘Only 10 per cent of males in the province were literate.’
Progress in Afghanistan Since 2001, Australian Government, Department of Defence Fact Sheet
‘IEDs are made of five main components . . .’
Russell Maddalena, Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 10 May 2007
‘The Chief of Defence Angus Houston confirmed . . .’
Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 9 June 2008
‘The explosive shockwaves of the blast . . .’
Russell Maddalena, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 10 May 2007
‘Twenty-six-year-old Smith, dubbed Smitty’
Australian Sapper, 2010 edition, p. 52
CHAPTER 13
‘bloodiest year’
Thomas H. Johnson, ‘On The Edge of the Big Muddy: The Taliban Resurgence in Afghanistan’, China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2007
‘. . . one recorded case of a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.’
Seth Jones, In The Graveyard of Empires. W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 2009, p. 207
Material on the number of suicide attacks was drawn from Pamela Constable, ‘Gates visits Kabul, cites rise in cross-border attacks’, The Washington Post, 17 January 2007 and Seth Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires.
‘IEDs killed 492 civilians and injured at least 700 more.’
Thomas H. Johnson, ‘On the Edge of the Big Muddy’
‘but it also suffered 90 fatalities . . .’
Bruce Riedel, ‘Al-Qaeda Strikes Back’, Foreign Affairs, May/June, 2007
‘retribution against “collaborators” neutralised . . .’
Barnett R. Rubin, ‘Saving Afghanistan’, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007
‘. . . the Taliban relies on . . .’
Thomas H. Johnson, ‘The Taliban Insurgency and an Analysis of Shabnamah (Night Letters)’, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Vol. 18, No. 3, 317–44, September 2007
‘A bullet to the head is all it takes . . .’
Seth Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires, p. 227
‘death threats to intimidate and terrorise’
Special Operations commander Major General Tim McOwan, ‘Update on Special Operations in Afghanistan’, Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, 11 December 2008
‘has become ever more daring and deadly . . .’
Bruce Riedel, ‘Al-Qaeda Strikes Back’
‘striking . . . at the heart of the Taliban strength’
Major General Michael Hindmarsh, Australian Government, Department of Defence press conference, Canberra, 27 September 2006
‘the heavy lifting’
Brendan Nicholson, ‘NATO Failure Endangering Australian Forces’, The Age, 27 November 2007
‘The situational awareness of the RTF patrol . . .’
‘RTF Soldier Slightly wounded in Failed Uruzgan Suicide Attack’ Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, MECC 120/07, 4 May 2007
CHAPTER 14
‘there is a distinct possibility of casualties . . .’
‘Australia to Double Afghan Force’, BBC, 10 April 2007
‘. . . manning a MAG58 . . .’
‘Afghanistan, D Coy Op Slipper’, 1 RAR: The First Battalion Association
‘Two afghan nationals were also wounded . . .’
‘RTF Soldier Slightly Wounded in Failed Uruzgan Suicide Attack’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, MECC 120/07, 4 May 2007
‘. . . restoration work in a ten-hour “backyard blitz” . . .’
Kieran Jackel, ‘Australian and Afghan Sappers Deliver Magical Effect to Talani School’, Australian Sapper, 2007 edition, p. 14
‘. . . Merlin was the first explos
ive detection dog . . .’
‘Army Sniffer Dog Merlin Killed in Accident’, The Daily Telegraph, 5 September 2007
‘A top EDD and very intelligent . . .’
‘Canines Round Up Medals’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, 6 March 2009
‘We spend every minute with the dog . . .’
Kelvin Healey, ‘Our Troops Declare in Dogs We Trust’, The Advertiser, 22 June 2009
‘. . . SAS Signalman Martin ‘Jock’ Wallace became the first Australian
soldier . . .’ Sandra Lee, 18 Hours: The True Story of an SAS War Hero, Harper–Collins, Pymble NSW, 2006, p. 1
‘. . . insurgents had failed to capture the base . . .’
Nick Allen, Embedded with the World’s Armies in Afghanistan, Spell-mount, Stroud UK, 2010, p. 84
Material about the 120-plus commandos of 4RAR with whom Sergeant D and Sarbi were on patrol was drawn from Rob Maylor and Robert Macklin, SAS Sniper: The World of an Elite Australian Marksman, Hachette, Sydney, 2010.
‘. . . detonating two Russian anti-tank mines stacked . . .’
Rob Maylor and Robert Macklin, SAS Sniper, p. 246
‘Their wounds were assessed as slight . . .’
‘Explosive Detection Dog Killed by Taliban Roadside Bomb’, Australian Government, Department of Defence media release, CPA 330/07, 24 September 2007
‘as close to “one shot, one kill” as you can get’
Sean Naylor, ‘Air Force Policy left ground troops high and dry’, Army Times [US], 30 September 2002
‘It was a huge bomb and poor Razz . . .’
Josh Bavas, ‘Vaporised war dog receives posthumous medal’, ABC, 5 March 2009
‘It was pretty harsh, but he saved my life . . .’
Kelvin Healey, ‘Our Troops Declare in Dogs We Trust’, The Advertiser, 22 June 2009
162 ‘A bad experience, but better than one of our soldiers.’
Josh Bavas, ‘Vaporised war dog receives posthumous medal’
162 ‘. . . In dogs we trust.’
Kelvin Healey, ‘Diggers in danger put trust in dogs’, The Herald Sun, 21 June 2009
164 ‘All of a sudden half the countryside was being shot at . . .’
Rob Maylor and Robert Macklin, SAS Sniper, p. 251
164 ‘If the blast didn’t kill them the shrapnel would have.’
Rob Maylor and Robert Macklin, SAS Sniper, p. 252
165 ‘In this case, the dogs have paid the ultimate sacrifice . . .’