A dog's life in the army
Updated on 01 February 2008
An Afghan hound as willing and loyal as the regiment she accompanies boosts one British regiments' morale.
Camp followers have historically conjured up a certain image of extremely friendly women who like to be very, very nice to soldiers and armies on the move.
Here at our camp in a lonely Afghan town in the Helmand River Valley we have one of our own. Well, to be fair, she's not exactly a woman - she's a dog. Rather a beautiful dog at that; large, lean, light sandy coloured. Unlike most Helmand hounds she has neither had her ears cut off nor been bred for fighting, it seems.
Perhaps she belonged to the major opium dealer who used to keep this house for his group of certain women who liked to be very, very friendly to him and his mates (allegedly).
But anyhow, the Royal Anglian Regiment took her under their wing and now she is effectively the pet of the men and women currently here.
Some boring military rule states that they are not allowed to keep pets here - so best not say how they are or where we are. So how do regimental goats fit into the scene then? But I digress...
They have called her Jihad - except not when the translators are around as that upsets them, not unnaturally. She is an amazing beast and whenever a patrol leaves the base to wander the Afghan countryside and ask the Afghans how life is going for them, she invariably trails along.
I saw one of the explosives sniffer dogs giving her a rather superior look the other day -though perhaps sniffer just envied her freedom to wander with the troop patrols at will.
She found a bloody jawbone the other day - not sure whose.
Still, she is great for morale they say, and loyal to the point of stupidity - her willingness to go walkies when everyone else does has meant she has walked into 'contacts' - the military for high velocity violence.
And she does not walk away, they say. She just sits it out then walks back to base. Rather like her human counterparts really.
