Jane Cook - Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

Fighting the enemy in his own backyard was not was Huntley expected, but like the others, he responded the best way possible: with prudence and practicality.

“We had to wear our Kevlar vests and helmets at all times,” he said.

Thank you for providing protection in practical ways, from seat belts to bullet proof vests. I pray for those in the military, men and women who need your protection today.

“Then he gave the commanders of units of a hundred the spears and the large and small shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of God.” (2 Chronicles 23:9)

“The first three months, we got mortared four or five times a week. You could set your watches by it. Because the enemy knew there would be a large gathering of people at the chow hall, that’s when they’d launch their mortars, at breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” Marine Sergeant Huntley recounted about the combat outpost in Ramadi in late 2005.

The enemy used religion as a cover. “They often launched an attack after their prayers; the biggest time was right before sundown. They’d go to their mosque and get preached at with hate towards the Americans. Once the prayer and preaching ended, they would attack,” he explained, noting that not everyone in Iraq was the enemy.)

“I saw that religion was the only saving grace they had over there. If you were to go into their mosques, they’re very beautiful with granite walls, very holy and sacred. Their religious beliefs are extremely strong. It’s one of the things that they hold on to. But if you were to go into their houses, they’re very dirty, third world country-ish like mud huts,” he said.

Despite the fighting, Huntley and others went on peacekeeping excursions. Every couple of weeks they’d go on peacekeeping missions where they weren’t necessarily hunting for anybody. When they arrived at a house, they’d say, “Hey we’re not here to hurt you guys, we’re trying to help.”

It was surprising that most people were trying to help get their country back to some sort of civilized structure. Huntley was under the impression that when they went out on a peacekeeping mission that they would meet heavy resistance. Instead, people welcomed them into their homes. They gave them food and drink, and then let them rest for the time being. They also knew that if the extremists found out, they would be killed.

Keve stood out on these peacekeeping visits. Dog are not pets in Iraq but dirty pack animals. Most people looked at Huntley in a strange way, because he had a dog that was very pristine, on a leash, and was there to help. They were intrigued. Most had never seen a trained dog, so he showed them some funny little tricks, making her sit, lie down.

In the midst of extremist warfare, these peacekeeping moments were among the most surprising. They were smooth places along the roughest terrain.

Thank you for life’s surprising moments, where something or someone turns out much better than I expected.

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16)

The attacks at the combat outpost in Ramadi didn’t stop Sergeant Huntley or his dog, Keve, from fulfilling their mission of detecting explosives.

“I would have the dog out searching for explosives. It would be my determination whether or not Keve was on to something based on her cues,” Huntley said.

By the time he went to Iraq, Huntley had trained thirteen dogs for the Marines in seven years. Dog training requires a lot of time and attention with the dog. One can’t just get anybody to go and look at a dog and say, “You know what? That dog is taking a lot of interesting in something. It’s all about their body, what they do, and their reaction to different things. I’m just there to determine if this dog is on to something or not,” he explained.

Huntley and Keve went on numerous raids and cache sweeps. They’d go along the Euphrates River, that’s where the enemy liked to hide a lot of their stuff. Keve’s biggest find was an acetylene torch tank packed with approximately 250 pounds of high explosives. The terrorists would ignite the container allowing it to shoot large molten steel able to penetrate any kind of military armor and kill anything in sight. Keve ‘s important find was able to get that explosive off the street.”

Keve was also able to find explosives in unsuspecting places. “We were doing a scouting mission, and she started pulling me. It looked like a rock with bushes around it. Turns out it was an actual IED, what is called a daisy chain. It was a 155mm mortar that was rigged seven more times in daisy chains along the road. The engineers dug it up and saw one line going to another rock and then another and so on,” he explained.

Dogs like Keve begin their training when they are about a year old. The United States military often procures German Shepherds or Belgium Malinois as working dogs. They spend three months training in patrol work, such as fighting and chasing after bad guys and three months in the detection field learning how to detect either explosives or narcotics. The dogs emerge as dual purpose attack and detection.

During her deployment Keve found quite a few pounds of raw explosives, several thousand rounds of ammunition, and numerous rifles and rocket launchers.

“She should take all the credit, she’s the one who found all the stuff, I was just the one holding the leash at the time,” Huntley said.

Thank you for giving dogs amazing senses and for using them in such a remarkable way, to detect the plans of evil and make roadways safe and clear.

“I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.” (Proverbs 4:11)

Motivation is the primary tool in working with explosive-detecting canines. “Everything in their training is considered a game to them. It all depends on their reward, whether they’re going to work for it or not. What’s their drive like? One dog might like a squeaky toy, and another dog might like a rubber kong Keve’s favorite,” Huntley explained.

“The hardest thing about training a dog is the way you approach the training. Not every dog is the same. Some learn quickly, some don’t. So you have to look at this dog and figure out if the dog is responding to your first method of training. If not, you’ve got to go to something else, sometimes to the point where you want to pull your hair out. Finally you stop and try something totally off the wall and all of sudden it starts working and you say ‘WOW,’” Huntley said, noting that Keve was a difficult dog to train.

The reward of a rubber kong may motivate a dog, but it usually takes something deeper to motivate humans. Complexity and new challenges are what drive humans to work and gives them hope for the future.

“It’s the greatest job I’ve ever done. I never have the same day twice. In dog training there’s always something different that I’ll learn or see every single day. I guarantee that if I pull my dog out one day and do some sorts of training with him or her, and then the next day I do the exact same training scenario, the dog will respond differently.”

Motivation alone is not nearly enough to get me through days of intense mortar attacks and the risks associated with detecting explosives. Sergeant Huntley found that his faith strengthened his courage: “It made me a stronger believer in God in his master plan. That brought me a lot of comfort. If something was going to happen to me, it was going to happen to me, and there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn’t as scared anymore.”