Hanoi Dog Names

That being said, a war is never quite fair to anyone or anything in its path, and that includes both sides of the "conflict." Whichever countries involved in the war, everyone suffers financially, emotionally, and even physically. Perhaps this is why America deployed what are commonly referred to as "war dogs." These pooches were trained to sniff out enemies and traps, provide companionship and moral support to soldiers, defend camps and other priority areas, and even to warn about underground tunnels housing Viet Cong soldiers.

It has been said that these war dogs, and their owners, saved upwards of 10,000 lives just by avoiding traps, sniffing out wounded soldiers, and eliminating the enemies before they could shoot. It got so bad for the Vietnamese, that soon the Viet Cong soldiers were offered bounties for killing these dogs and their owners.

Obviously, this begs the question: why introduce dogs into a war environment? At the time, these "war dogs" were made up of volunteers, and although their soldiers wanted to take them home at the end of the war, they weren't allowed. Congress strictly forbade them from reentering the country, leaving these dogs stranded in Vietnam.

Rick Claggett, a former dog handler, said he couldn't bare having to leave his beloved dog, Big Boy, behind. He had offered to purchase the dog's flight back home, and to adopt him, but the law forbade him from doing so. Claggett is cited describing how Big Boy helped him cope with the stress of war, and saved countless of lives. He worried that the Vietnamese would not only hold resentment toward these war dogs, but also that they would wind up using them as a source of food.

This caused a public outrage, especially once American civilians found out, and it led to reform laws being put into place. These days, only specialized military dogs are allowed in combat, and upon retiring, they are rehabilitated and put up for adoption for civilians. What happened to Big Boy, and the rest of these war dogs, will never happen again.