Marines And Their Dogs [VIDEO] [PHOTOS]
Meet Tank, Bee, and Eli. These three pups are just a few of the deployed canine Marines. Follow these hard working service members, and their best friends, through work, play and tragedy.
Below is bomb sniffing “Tank” and his Marine best friend, Private First Class Dustin Watkins from Gaston, South Carolina. Watkins is with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. (Photo below)
The above photo was taken in Kajaki, Afghanistan as Marine Cpl. Jonathan Eckert and his IED sniffing partner, “Bee”, await Medevac transport for the body of a fallen Marine comrade. Eckert is from Oak Lawn, Illinois, attached to India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment. Eckert was checking for IEDs with Cpl. Jorge Villarreal of San Antonio, Texas in advance of a small group of Marines when Villarreal stepped on an IED pressure plate and was killed.
It’s not all about sniffing out IED’s for Bee–Marine Cpl. Jonathan Eckert and Bee take a much needed swim break.
And now the story of Eli and Colton. Eli, a loving Labrador retriever, hogged the cot he shared with Marine Lance Cpl. Colton Rusk. Rusk and Eli shared missions, their cot, and many kisses according to Cpl Rusks’ mother, Kathy. Eli returned home, a retired military service member, without his best friend. Marine Lance Cpl. Colton Rusk died in a firefight Dec. 6, 2010, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, at the age of 20. Watch as his family is reunited with Eli, who now lives with the Rusk family in South Texas.
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