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97 Detroit Mercy L. Rev. Online J. 101 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/dtmercyl97 and id is 1 raw text is: The Legislative History of the Treatment of Military Working Dogs in the United States KAYLEY C. LEON Military Working Dogs (MWDs) are dogs with trained specialized abil- ities to assist military operations by, for example, holding down suspects, defending army troops, or sniffing out bombs.1 Dogs have been used in war since 600 BC.2 In the United States, MWDs played a significant role during World War I and II; however, the treatment and recognition of these animals and their pivotal contributions to military operations by the U.S. government have marked a disheartening path. A. A Brief History ofMWD Usage by the U.S. Military The use of MWDs is well-recorded throughout U.S. military history. Beginning in the mid 1700s, military personnel, including Colonel Benjamin Franklin, recognized the utility of dogs in combat and encouraged their use to defend impending attacks from natives.3 In 1914, the U.S. military bor- rowed MWDs from France and Britain and primarily utilized them in a mes- senger role.4 While by the beginning of WWII, the U.S. military had adopted military training programs to employ MWDs on the battlefield.' MWDs were utilized throughout WWII and after the war these same dogs were brought back to the United States and reintegrated into civilian life as pets.6 During the Vietnam War, the regulations surrounding the discharge of MWDs drastically changed. During this war, over 4,000 dogs served and were such an integral part of the military force that the Viet Cong placed bounties on them.' However, only around 200 dogs made it back home to the United States.' These dogs were responsible for stopping over 10,000 deaths of American troops; however, it was common practice to leave the dogs in foreign nations or euthanize them after the war had ended.9 It was not until years later that many MWD handlers-those soldiers who trained 1. See Charles T. Kirchmaier, Unleashing the Dogs of War: Using Military Working Dogs to Apprehend Enemy Combatants, Army Law. 1, 3-5 (2006). 2. Edward S. Foster, Dogs in Ancient Warfare, 10 Greece & Rome 114, 114 (1941). 3. See Kirchmaier, supra note 1, at 5; MICHAEL G. LEMISH, WAR DOGS: A HISTORY OF LOYALTY AND HEROISM 6 (1999) (attributing early consideration to the use of dogs in combat to Benjamin Franklin). 4. See Jessica Ravitz, War Dogs Remembered, Decades Later, CNN (Feb. 12, 2010), http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/02/12/war.dogs/. 5. See Kirchmaier, supra note 1, at 5. 6. See Ravitz, supra note 4. 7. Id. 8. Id. 9. Id.