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Urban legend abornin'...

By The Armorer on January 25, 2008 | | Comments (14)

I got an email this morning that has all the highlights of an urban legend in the making.

[Photo removed at the request of the copyright holder - see comment fom Tim]

The K9 above is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord. He's huge - part Boxer and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. Brutus is running toward me because he knows I have some Milk Bone treats, so he's slobbering away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got to me in case he couldn't stop, but he did. Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq. His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant "go away but come back and find me". The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. He then jumped against one of the doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and untied his handler and they all escaped. He's the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows you're ok, he's a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap. Enjoys the company of cats.

Emphasis mine. Okay, we know the Medal business is bogus. And if the story was otherwise true, doncha think it would be all over the 'net like a rash? But it isn't. Snopes hasn't heard of it yet, and I couldn't find a whiff on Google.

I'm throwing the BS flag - if you know better *do* please offer up some corroborating evidence! The reason I posted it is because I just wanted to be in (as a debunker) of what could make it into Urban Legend.

Well, that and I like the pic of the dog. BTW - anybody find that picture elsewhere on the 'net, in other contexts?

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14 Comments

By FbL on January 25, 2008 9:58 AM
I'd guess the picture isn't even of a military dog going through training activities (as implied), as there seems to be no collar/harness on him.
 
By wolfwalker on January 25, 2008 10:11 AM
I have no definite knowledge either way, so all of what follows is mild-to-moderately informed speculation. However... My immediate reaction is that the dog doesn't look like either a Boxer or a Bullmastiff, so the crossbreed claim is dubious. It's true that hybrids don't always look like a puzzle assembled from pieces of the parents, but still, you can usually look at a dog and tell its general breeding background by its appearance. For example, you don't normally get a heavy-bodied dog by crossing a borzoi with a whippet. Boxer and Bullmastiff are both mastiff-type dogs. This dog doesn't look to me like a cross between two mastiff types. Second reaction is that AIUI, military K9s are typically trained using schutzhund methods. They won't take food from anyone but their handler. They are always under the handler's control and will not charge anybody except on the handler's orders. They are not trained to kill; at most they're trained to "attack and hold" by a grip on a nonlethal place such as a forearm or a leg. Other things I noticed: * Most US military dogs are purebred German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, or similar breeds. They don't typically use mastiffs, nor crossbreeds. Other breeds might be used for drug or explosives detection, especially bird-dogs and scenthounds with their excellent noses, but for patrol dogs they tend to stick to the shepherd-type. * The "sign language" sounds bogus. Dogs are smart but not that smart, and mastiffs aren't generally among the smartest of dogs. How do you signal "go away but come back and find me later"? * Web searches for "dog medal Iraq" and similar terms found nothing except a story of a Springer Spaniel, a British army dog, that found a big weapons cache. If this story were true, I can't believe it wouldn't have gotten reported somewhere. So my inclination is to agree with you, Armorer. It's a Net-legend in the making.
 
By Neffi on January 25, 2008 10:13 AM
Hmmm... I believe the military has guidelines mandating the breeds acceptable as K9s, and that ain't it! Second the BS flag...
 
By JimC on January 25, 2008 10:50 AM
Gee so much for a good story. Does truth always have to be considered since in actuality we may not really know much truth since history is written by the victors. For example: Was Hannibal a great general or did Rome, a great nation or soon to be in their minds, need a great enemy?
 
By JimC on January 25, 2008 10:55 AM
OOPs don't parse the above.
 
By V5 on January 25, 2008 11:38 AM
Having handled and personally owned them before I'd say Brutus is a Belgian Mal. His ears are laid back as he's running, which is common with them. Not sure what that is above/behind his head... some sort of collar rig maybe, but I'm not going to speculate. Other than that it's a great picture of a Mal on the run. V5
 
By Raven on January 25, 2008 11:55 AM
McChord (Granted it shares land with Ft. Lewis I believe) is an Air Force base--and I know with a certainty (I oversaw the K9 handlers and the kennels at the busiest and 2nd largest kennel in Air Mobility Command--the same command that McChord belongs to)that the AF uses German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois ONLY. No mixed breeds. No mastifs. They're always wearing their choke collars because sometimes the handler needs something to pull them back with after they're in attack mode. The handlers DO use hand/arm signals to communicate, but I've never heard of the command of go away and come back and rip the throat out of these bad guys. Too Lassie for me. The dogs can, however, act semi-independently as an overwatch while the handler is searching a perp. The dog will attack without specific commands if the perp makes sudden moves to flee or attacks the handler. The dogs are highly trained to not take food from non-handlers; they don't get milkbones for treats. They're on a strict diet and their rewards are usually the opportunity to play with their kong toys. It's a beautiful and pure thing to see a dog so utterly happy just to get to chomp on some hardened rubber and hear "GOOD BOY/GIRL!!!" Once the dog is comfortable around other troops and if the handler allows it, they'll sometimes get snacks (i.e. tiny pieces of meat from a sandwich, pepperoni, turkey at thanksgiving, etc.) with the caveat that if the kennel master NCO never finds out. They'll still wait until given permission from their handlers to eat it even if it's laying in front of them though. I'm not sure about the medals--certainly not the MOH. I know that with our puppies, they did have badges (engraved with their Military Working Dog number) and I think that they were authorized to wear campaign ribbons/medals on the badge holder although that may have been just an informal thing the handlers did. As for the MOH--it took what, 3 years to get LT. Mike Murphy to be awarded the medal and he was in SOCOM. Now add to it that the dog in question is allegedly attached to McChord--Air Force Air Mobility Command and when deployed assigned to CENTAF. I have humans under my command that are waiting 9mos+ to get lesser medals for duties performed in direct combat. I can't imagine a DOG getting a medal first of all, and never mind the MOH which requires interviews of multiple confirming witnesses and congressional approval. Color this myth BUSTED.
 
By NevadaDailySteve on January 25, 2008 2:30 PM
OK, so the myth is busted but this is one of those that you almost WANT to be true. Of course I think that's how a lot of things get to be urban legends. BTW I told a friend who used to be in the Navy the joke about the Marine officers talking about how much of sex is pleasure and how much work and I almost had to give him the Heimlich. He was eating a cinnamon roll and drinking coffee and I didn't know if he was going to choke to death or drown first.
 
By Tim on January 25, 2008 4:30 PM
John, please contact me ASAP about this very false story. I am the web systems administrator for a police K-9 association and was the one who originally posted that picture on one of our web sites. The intellectual property rights to that photo do not belong to us but we were given permission to use it on our web sites as needed. We do not have the authority to grant someone else permission to use it and the photo is being used(circulated) without the permission of the news organization who does. Yes, this means you also do not have permission to post it here on your blog. Sorry, I'm not trying to bust your chops, only kill this false story that is circulating around and stop the unauthorized use of the photo. I do appreciate your intent of debunking the fabricated story circulating around with it. For those of you who guessed the dog is a Belgian Malinois, you are 100% correct and I might add, he weighs less than 100 pounds. His name is 'Spike', not Brutus. He is not a military working dog. He is a retired Police K-9 who never served with any of the military working dog units in Iraq and he certainly was never awarded a K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor, as no such award exists and even if one did it would never be awarded to a police service dog who was never in country and participated in a military action. If any of you have knowledge of the perp who concocted this very false story, please let John know so he can forward the information to me. Our Police K-9 association, dogs included, would like to have a few words with them. Thanks! Tim
 
By AFSister on January 25, 2008 10:01 PM
Thanks for staying on top of this, Tim. Can't say that I know anything about the story or the picture, so I can't help you there. Re. intellectual property- considering the problems Mike Yon has gone through with his pictures, you won't find a milblogger out there who has a problem removing copyrighted photos.
 
By Old Dog on January 25, 2008 11:14 PM
Tim, Is there anyway John could legally allow that picture to remain up? That is a magnificent Dog having fun. Whether he is a Mil Dog or a Cop K-9 he should be celebrated. Damn all you wish the jerks who started this but, let us see that Dog in his joy.
 
By Tim on January 26, 2008 12:31 AM
AFSister, Thanks. No problem at all with this blog or John, who has been most gracious and helpful. As a veteran myself and the father of a current active duty soldier, I never had any doubt that I would be treated any other way. Old Dog, I wish I had the authority to allow the photo to stay up, but unfortunately I do not. I am suppose to be the watchkeeper of something that was given to us to use in good faith and I feel horrible that someone got a hold of that photo to use for something dishonorable and while on my watch. I promise I'll be back soon but in a new thread to fulfill your request with a link to protected photos that can't be copied. For now, it's better to let sleeping dogs lie, especially for the handlers at McChord, who are probably going to be getting a lot of inquires about that story if they aren't already. Until next time, take care and Be Safe! Tim
 
By DoesNotMatter on January 26, 2008 6:27 AM
Hm, wasn't there something similiar in WW2 ? A dog did something extraordinary and was applied for a medal, not MOH but just below that, andthen a general threw a fit ?