thedailyfeed:

This marine dog, Drak, was bloodied by a bomb in Afghanistan. He survived, thanks to the watchful care of his handler, and serves as an illustration of just how close soldiers get to their dogs. 

“I have literally spent more time with Drak than I have my own daughter,” Fischer, 27, said by telephone this week from his hospital bed at a military medical center in Bethesda, Md. The Marine has worked with 4-year-old Drak for two years and spent nine months in Afghanistan. His daughter, Cheyenne, is 19 months old.

Much is made of the bond among men at arms, but the union between man and dog in a combat zone seems just as tight. Handlers and canines that sniff for explosives or narcotics patrol together, day after day, linked by a leash and an innate understanding of each other. Sometimes, they sleep side by side in military cots. They face the same dangers together. 

Dogs are perfect.