More remarkable still are vapor-wake dogs. (All in all, it was a pretty cushy assignment: The dogs stayed in 5-star hotels and rode in vehicles tailored to their comfort and safety.) When President Barack Obama traveled to Asia last fall, an elite team of 30 bomb-sniffing dogs were part of his security entourage.

The nose knows: A canine's olfactory powers are well known - dogs are now even being used to sniff out rare types of cancer - and that natural ability hasn't gone unnoticed by the U.S.

The exercise helps build trust, loyalty, and teamwork. Erick Martinez, a military dog handler uses an over-the-shoulder carry to hold his dog, Argo II, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, on March 4. Rusk did not survive the assault, but Eli was granted early retirement so he could live with Rusk's family. When Private First Class Colton Rusk was shot after his unit came under Taliban sniper fire during a routine patrol in Afghanistan, Rusk's bomb-sniffing dog, Eli, crawled on top of his body, attacking anyone - including Rusk's fellow Marines - who tried to come near him. Not only are these dogs fierce assault weapons, they are loyal guardians. The personal attachments are often so intense that it can take weeks of training before a dog can begin working with a new handler. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade wait for helicopter transport as part of Operation Khanjar at Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province in Afghanistan on July 2, 2009.ДЇierce protectors: Military dogs and their handlers often form deep bonds - it's an essential part of the canine-handler relationship that is specifically built into their training regimen. A dog can see it through his nose.'ДЄbove U.S. A dog could alert them to where he's hiding because of the incredible scent capabilities. what if Osama had been in a hole in the ground? A dog could find that. 'When you're going on a mission,' Dowling says, 'a raid or a patrol, insurgents are sneaky - they like to hide stuff from you. The scent of war: According to Mike Dowling, a former Marine Corps dog handler who served in Iraq, there's a simple explanation for why the Navy SEALs took a dog along on the Osama raid: 'A dog's brain is dominated by olfactory senses.' In fact, Dowling says, a dog can have up to 225 million olfactory receptors in their nose - the part of their brain devoted to scent is 40 times greater than that of a human. soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his dog leap off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior on March 1. And though the dog in question remains an enigma - another mysterious detail of the still-unfolding narrative of that historic mission - there should be little reason to speculate about why there was a dog involved: Man's best friend is a pretty fearsome warrior.ДЄbove, a U.S.

So it should come as no surprise that among the 79 commandos involved in Operation Neptune Spear that resulted in Osama bin Laden's killing, there was one dog - the elite of the four-legged variety. And these numbers will continue to grow as these dogs become an ever-more-vital military asset. Army had 2,800 active-duty dogs deployed (the largest canine contingent in the world). efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan - as of early 2010 the U.S. But their service was informal only in 1942 were canines officially inducted into the U.S. soldiers for more than 100 years, seeing combat in the Civil War and World War I.

Real war dogs