Jump dogs

Here's the picture JR sent to David.

Here's the promised excerpt from Rules of Engagement:

Six miles above Yang-do Island, North Korea

It was amazing how long it took to fall from thirty-one thousand feet. Almost two full minutes.

Lieutenant Commander John Winkler—Winky, to his teammates—found an odd sort of peace in a HALO jump. In the blackness of a night like this one, diving out of the red-lit cargo hold of the C-17 Globemaster was like jumping into a cave . . . and falling for a really, really long time. The sound of the rushing wind consumed his senses.

Sidney, the sixty-pound Belgian Malinois working dog strapped to his chest, didn’t find the experience as peaceful as his partner. He wormed his head into Winky’s armpit. The man patted the vest that covered the dog’s flank and pressed his lips to the animal’s ear. “Hang in there, buddy. We’ll be on the ground soon.”

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If you'd like to know more about the history of dogs in combat (and more picture!), check out this article from The Atlantic.