The dogs of war are being immortalized on their very own stamps, Time reported. Four different working canine companions—a black Lab, a yellow Lab, a Welsh springer spaniel, and a German shepherd—appear on the 65-cent stamps that went on sale Thursday. Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, helped war dogs gain international fame last year for his high-profile role in the Bin Laden raid. “The capability [dogs] bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine,” General David Petreaus has said.
Last fall, Josh Eells dropped by Lackland Air Force Base, the “largest military dog school in the world,” to spend time with the eight hundred working dogs that train there for a TEXAS MONTHLY story:
For almost as long as there has been war, there have been war dogs. The ancient Romans used to arm their dogs with chain mail and spiked collars. The ancient Britons used mastiffs to defend against those Romans. Napoleon stationed guard dogs at the gates of Alexandria. … Even in today’s high-tech military, with its biometric imaging and laser-equipped Predator drones, there’s still no substitute for a well-trained dog, and since 9/11, the number of military dogs deployed in the field has more than doubled.
No word yet when the Postal Service will pay homage to those feline special-ops underdogs, the cats of war.
