How they got Bin Laden
A Belgian Malinois in a canine tactical assault suit. Photo from Nosey Parker.
Thrilling story in this week’s New Yorker about the US Navy SEALs who conducted the raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout. Only one member of the super-secret commando unit could be identified by name: Cairo, a Belgian Malinois. SEAL dogs are trained parachutists who can jump solo or in tandem with their handlers.
Generally we avoid stories about war dogs because they end in heartbreak: the dog is abandoned as military surplus, or separated from the handler because of some rule, or gets injured or dies, or refuses to leave his dead comrade. We won’t even watch a movie if we know something bad happens to the dog. This story ends well, though.
Where’s the cat in this operation? Obviously, piloting the drone with the video feed.
During the next four minutes, the interior of the Black Hawks rustled alive with the metallic cough of rounds being chambered. Mark, a master chief petty officer and the ranking noncommissioned officer on the operation, crouched on one knee beside the open door of the lead helicopter. He and the eleven other SEALs on “helo one,” who were wearing gloves and had on night-vision goggles, were preparing to fast-rope into bin Laden’s yard. They waited for the crew chief to give the signal to throw the rope. But, as the pilot passed over the compound, pulled into a high hover, and began lowering the aircraft, he felt the Black Hawk getting away from him. He sensed that they were going to crash.
Getting Bin Laden (What happened that night in Abbottabad) by Nicholas Schmidle.
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