War_Conflict

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Staff Sgt. Michael Hile with "Rronnie", his military working dog, 554th Military Police company is being hoisted into a UH-60 (Blackhawk) helicopter during a canine-hoist training mission July 15 near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. (US Army photo by Spc. Aubree Rundle)

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Left, Staff Sgt. Michael Hile with "Rronnie", his military working dog from 554th Military Police company lifting off the ground my a hoist lowered from a UH-60 (Blackhawk) helicopter July 16 during a canine-hoist training mission. First sergeant, Dean Bissey, Company C (MEDEVAC company), 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade stands underneath the hoisted canine team to confirm the security of the harness. (US Army photo by Spc. Aubree Rundle) www.army.mil

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Left, 1st Sgt. Dean Bissey, first sergeant for Company C "Dustoff", 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade hooks the hoist harness to Staff Sgt. Michael Hile and his military working dog "Rronnie" from 554th Military Police Company July 15 near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. (US Army photo by Spc. Aubree Rundle)

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A flight medic with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, is hoisted into a medical helicopter with Luca, a Military Working Dog with 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division during a training exercise, Feb. 24, at Forward Operating Base Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. The training prepared the flight medics for medical evacuation of working dogs. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael Needham, 102nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

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Lance Cpl. Sam Enriquez, a military working dog handler with 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion, stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and his K-9 partner Kally, take part in night operations training during the Inter-service Advanced Skills K-9 course, at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground, Sept. 24. Enriquez and 18 other military police K-9 handlers from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, took part in the advanced pre-deployment course. Since the rigors and dangers of combat don't end when the sun sets, neither does the training the teams go through. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Aaron Diamant)

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Cpl. Sean Grady, a dog handler and pointman with Echo Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, and Ace, an improvised explosive device detection dog, pause for a break while sweeping a chokepoint during a patrol here, April 27, 2012. Grady, a 27-year-old native of Otho, Iowa, and Ace have successfully located 16 IEDs, the most of any team in their battalion, since arriving in southern Helmand in October 2011. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez)

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Yeager, an improvised explosive device detection dog, lies in front of a battlefield cross as Staff Sgt. Derick Clark, a kennel supervisor with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, and 26-year-old native of Hillsdale, Mich., and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Dale Reeves, a kennel officer in charge with 2nd Bn., 9th Marines and 41-year-old native of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., observe a moment of silence in honor of Lance Cpl. Abraham Tarwoe, a dog handler and mortarman who served with Weapons Company, 2nd Bn., 9th Marines, during a memorial service here, April 22, 2012. Tarwoe, who became Yeager's handler in July 2011, was killed in action during a dismounted patrol in support of combat operations in Helmand province's Marjah district, April 12. Tarwoe's fellow Marines remember him for his contagious laughter and smile, and his unfaltering courage on the battlefield. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alfred V. Lopez)

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Rangers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment and a multi-purpose canine pause during a nighttime combat mission in Afghanistan. Courtesy U.S. Army.

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Lance Cpl. Nick Lacarra, a 20-year-old improvised explosive device detection dog handler with Combined Anti-Armor Team 2, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and a native of Long Beach, Calif., holds security in a field with his dog Coot while halted during a partnered security patrol with Afghan Border Police here, Jan. 30. In southern Garmsir district, an area with a history of tribal conflict, the growing ABP force has deepened its roots and established governance through the mentorship of the 3/3 Weapons Co. Marines. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder)

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U.S. Army Spc. David Walls, of Warren, Mich., Mine Detection Dog Handler, 49th Engineer Detachment, oversees Sergeant Homer, a mine detection dog, as he performs a mine-proofing sweep at the Russian Grain Silo Combat Outpost, Kandahar, Afghanistan. The COP is the intended site of a 10 mega-watt power plant that will provide electricity to the western side of Kandahar. Walls and Homer are deployed to Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan. (ISAF photo by TSgt Samuel Padilla/released)

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In this file photo from April 2007, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Reese takes a knee with his military working dog Grek after hearing gunfire within 100 meters during a search for insurgents in Buhriz, Iraq. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stacy L. Pearsall) (Released) **FILE**

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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Reese and his military working dog Grek wait at a safe house before conducting an assault against insurgents in Buhriz, Iraq, April 10, 2007. U.S. Army Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division and Iraqi army soldiers from 4th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division are going house-to-house in search for weapons caches and enemy fighters after more than 1,000 residents of this Baqubah suburb were displaced by Al-Qaeda insurgents. (U.S.Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stacy L. Pearsall) www.army.mil

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Lance Cpl. William Sullivan, a dog handler with the mobile section of 81 mm Mortars Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, provides security with his dog, Coal, during a patrol in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, March 31. Marines from 3/6 and soldiers from the Afghan National Army are in Marjah to support Operation Moshtarak, a push to rid the area of Taliban presence and intimidation.

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Eddie hops aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, along with Iraqi security forces and Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division. Photo by Spc. Daniel Bearl www.army.mil

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FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq; Staff Sgt. Christopher Ogle, a native of Beaver Creek, Ohio, and military police dog handler, leads his assigned dog, "Liaka," a Dutch Shepherd, along streets in the Hadar community during a mission with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division &;= Baghdad, and Iraqi National Police on a combined security patrol Nov. 29, in southern Baghdad's Rashid district. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Todd Frantom, attached to the 1st BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B)

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Sgt. Craig Walker and his working dog, Staff Sgt Carla of the 4th Infantry Division take a quick break in an open lot while searching for weapons caches. Iraqi national police and U.S. Soldiers from 64th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division searched a mullalah in Risalah, Baghdad on Sep. 15, 2008, in order to document the local military aged males residing there.

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Arab-Israelis flash victory signs during a protest of the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old Arab-Israeli who appeared in video footage to be retreating from police. Thousands of Arabs took to the streets Saturday to protest the shooting, with many hurling rocks and firebombs. (Associated Press)

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President Barack Obama speaks to the media before a meeting with his cabinet members in the White House Cabinet Room in Washington, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. A senior military official says that American military advisory teams will now go to Iraq’s western Anbar province where Islamic State militants have been gaining ground and slaying men, women and children. The teams are part of President Barack Obama’s new directive to expand the U.S. mission in Iraq by deploying another 1,500 U.S. troops to serve as advisers, trainers and security personnel. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) **FILE**

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The seal affixed to the front of the Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington is seen here on June 21, 2013. The number of military suicides is nearly double that of a decade ago when the U.S. was just a year into the Afghan war and hadn't yet invaded Iraq. While the pace is down slightly this year, it remains worryingly high. The U.S. military and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acknowledge the grave difficulties facing active-duty and former members of the armed services who have been caught up in the more-than decade-long American involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Associated Press)

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With Republicans taking control of both chambers in the next Congress, a key policy issue will be increasing the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group. President Obama has said he's keenly aware of the GOP desire to clarify the mission. (associated press)