BUSTER - THE DOG OF WAR (Arms and Chemical "Inspector")

Sky.com ^ | Apr 1, 2003 | Staff

[Diddley]

A real Dog of War has been hailed the hero of a British Army raid on an Iraqi stronghold.
Explosives sniffer dog Buster unearthed a hidden cache of arms from an enemy camp in the southern Iraqi village of Safwan.

The Springer Spaniel's find was followed by the arrest of 16 Saddam Hussein supporters. Brown-eyed Buster, who is five, took part in a raid launched by 200 troops.

His handler, Sergeant Danny Morgan, 37, of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps said: "The soldiers had found nothing so I unleashed Buster and sent him in. "The rule is that the dog always goes first in case there are booby traps and I was obviously concerned for him as he started his search. Within minutes he became excited in a particular area and I knew he'd discovered something.

"The Iraqis we spoke to had denied having any weapons. But Buster found their arms even though they'd hidden them in a wall cavity, covered it with a sheet of tin then pushed a wardrobe in front of it. "I'm very proud of him."

Buster's haul included AK47 assault rifles, a pistol, grenades, ammunition and bomb-making equipment. Suitcases full of cash, a suspected stash of heroin and crack cocaine and pro-Saddam Hussein Ba'ath Party literature were also discovered in the buildings used by the mafia-style gangs.

Sgt Morgan keeps Buster at his home in Aldershot, Hants, where he doubles as a family pet for his five-year-old daughter Emma and wife Nicki. "I trained him by teaching him to fetch weapons like guns and ammunition instead of sticks and balls," he said.

"He loves his job simply because he thinks it's a game and obviously has no idea he's going into dangerous situations.

"I end up doing all the worrying because he's not only doing a job out here - he's my best friend. Buster is the only arms and explosives search dog working in Iraq right now and has been worth his weight in gold today. "But my daughter Emma is missing him terribly - even more than she misses me!

"She was upset when I went off to war but wept buckets when she was saying goodbye to Buster. She's been sending him more treats than me since we arrived." Buster is so valuable to the army that he has even been given his own protective gear in case of chemical or biological attack.

When Scud or gas attack warning sound, he leaps into a special sealed pen equipped with an electric motor that pumps air through a gas mask filter.

[Diddley]

"Everybody" wants to get in on the action.

[VOYAGER]

Geraldo Rivera should be as useful instead of being just a "useful idiot"!

[demnomo]

First Flipper and now Buster. Sweet.

[b fair]

It makes the UN inspectors look like idiots!!!
Imagine a springer spaniel find something the size of small arms.
The UN idiots couldn't find a 35 foot long scud missle....

[anymouse]

K-9 unit busts Iraqi arms stash wide open.

[expatpat]

I guess Blixie should have had more dogs and fewer socialist idiots in his group.

[VOA]

"The rule is that the dog always goes first in case there are booby traps
and I was obviously concerned for him as he started his search. Within minutes he became
excited in a particular area and I knew he'd discovered something.

Just another reason the UN inspectors and Blix KNEW they weren't going to
find much of anything.
No dog with the UN inspectors (none that I ever saw on reports)
AND you know dang sure no UN inspector is going to risk his cushy "see the world
at everyone else's expense" job and search unrelentlessly...and maybe
stumble across a booby trap.

[RLK]

Dogs are the worst enemies of terrorists and guelillas. The traing manuals emphasize, if an enemy unit is working with dogs, kill the dogs first at all costs. This has been known for years. I advocated more extensive use of dogs in Viet Nam. With use of dogs there would have been no hidden soldiers or ambushs.

[garyhope]

I had a dog named Buster for about 15 years. A female poodle who literally just walked in my Southern California open door one Christmas day, lost and who stayed for the next 15 years. Small, smart, tough and fearless. Good dog. The dog outlasted several girlfriends, cars and one wife.

[MattinNJ]

The dog outlasted several girlfriends, cars and one wife.

Always go with the odds.

[MattinNJ]

I knew a guy who pulled POW sentry duty in Nam for 2 years. He was in charge of the K-9s. He told me that the dogs foiled countless ambushes and escapes. When the war was over his unit was one of the last to go. The Air Force wouldn't take the dogs as they were considered non essential "equipment". He and his buddies refused to leave without the dogs. It turned out to be a big mess that kept getting bigger and bigger and involving more and more officers (I never served but from what I understand that tends to really mess things up). Then it became an inter service pissing match over whether the Air Force could order the Army guys on to the plane without the dogs.

Long story short, the dogs retired to live out a peaceful existence in Kentucky.

[HairOfTheDog]

They used to put down a lot of the service dogs, and now they actually have an adoption program for them if their handlers can't/don't want to keep them.

Here is Buster

[HairOfTheDog]

'nother shot of Buster workin'

[alethia]

Are there a lot of K-9 units being used in Iraq? I hope so -- terrific work, Buster...

[Diddley]

[2]-- Geraldo Rivera should be as useful instead of being just a "useful idiot"! .

Amen.

[Diddley]

[3]--First Flipper and now Buster. Sweet .

We’ll take all the help we can get.

[Diddley]

[4]--It makes the UN inspectors look like idiots!!! .

Because they are idiots!

[Diddley]

[5]--K-9 unit busts Iraqi arms stash wide open. .

ROFL

[Diddley]

[6]--I guess Blixie should have had more dogs and fewer socialist idiots in his group. .

It would have helped.

[Diddley]

[7]--AND you know dang sure no UN inspector is going to risk his cushy "see the world at everyone else's expense" job and search unrelentlessly...and maybe stumble across a booby trap .

Hey. They have to worry abut their pensions.