SukritiUnprepared
Dave and Treo landed with a plan on their mind, they were about to practice for two weeks. Treo was yet to be trained for the local smell as the smell of explosives differs on the basis of location in different parts of the world. But war is not planned nor was their deployment and this was a big shock for the team of two as they were supposed to get on the battlefield without any add-on local practice.
A Head Start
Sadly, Dave and Treo didn’t get a chance to practice at all as they were supposed to head for the war area as soon as they reached their base camp in Sangin, Central Afghanistan. Sangin is nicknamed as ‘IED Central’, ie, improvised explosive device. The same devices that Treo is specialized in sniffing out and warning his handler about the explosive. The situation was dicey because of the new location but not out of hands.
Close But Not Too Close
The team was sharing a magnificent bond. Their partnership proved to be very effective but they had a long way to go and Treo found a new friend too, other than Dave in the new country. There was another dog Sasha, whose first handler Marianne had to give her up unwillingly because of the closeness that they shared. Sasha was assigned a new handler named Ken Rowe. In the mid of the war with such a vigilant job to be done, Treo had his own way for entertainment.
Treo’s Bestie
Sasha, a female dog, and her handler Ken were working on the same mission with Treo and Dave. The 4 of them were quite close and every time Sasha was around, Treo used to behave more humbly. According to Dave, Sasha was “one hell of a classy-looking girl. “If there is one dog in the 104 that can rival Treo’s abilities, it’s her.” Sasha’s life met a devastating end, that made everyone moist-eyed.
Sasha’s Sad End
Unfortunately, Sasha died in 2008 after being transferred from Sangin. She was killed along with her handler on 24 July 2008, when Sasha was on patrolling she was shot by a sniper. She still managed to get back to her handler and that’s how the Taliban sniper found out Ken’s location and killed both of them with a volley of 5 rocket-propelled grenades.
Bitter Truth
The worse part is they were supposed to leave with their regiment to the UK, a day before this incident took place. Until Ken’s concern for his team made him decide to stay back as there wasn’t any other dog-handler team to take charge. Treo and Dave were safe but Ken was a close mate to Dave and this was a depressing moment for him.