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thedrifter
07-06-05, 03:55 PM
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Iraq duty tied man to dog
By KEITH EDWARDS
Staff Writer

Marine Cpl. Ian R. Burns -- along with his best friend and roommate, Cak -- survived close encounters with bombs and 130-degree weather in Iraq, only to return safely stateside to learn his sidekick needed risky surgery to save his life.

Cak, a 5-year-old German shepherd, recovered. And though he's missing his spleen and half his pancreas, Cak is back on the job with Burns, a Farmingdale native and military dog handler stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C.

"It was a huge relief," Burns said of Cak's successful surgery and recovery. "We have a really close bond. Cak was really the only one there with me (in Iraq) every step of the way. Everything I did, he did."

Burns and other military dog handlers stayed with the dog 24 hours a day for a week after the surgery. The military veterinarian who did the surgery said she wasn't sure the dog would survive. But because Cak's spleen had somehow flipped over, swelling to five times its normal size and destroying itself and most of his pancreas, the dog would have died without the surgery.

Ironically, Cak's brush with death came after he and Burns returned from a 2004 stint sniffing out bombs while deployed with an infantry company in Ramadi, Iraq. Their duties there included searching buildings, vehicles, roadsides -- and people -- for bombs.

One time, while searching a building, they came within 6 inches of an unexploded bomb.

"We had been searching for about 45 minutes, in August, and the temperature was about 130 degrees there," Burns said. "Cak had gotten sick -- he was puking -- because of the heat, and didn't want to work. My commanding officer told me there was a box on the stairwell, go check it out. I had a bad feeling about it. I peeked inside and saw Iraqi trash bags and wires."

The box turned out to be full of explosives, which were safely disarmed.

Often, they searched buildings already partially destroyed by bombs and improvised explosive devices to make sure there weren't any other bombs.

In August, Marines were entering a Ramadi building when two bombs detonated, nearly destroying the building and trapping several Marines who had rushed to the building's roof. Burns and Cak searched the building, which was supported only by some wire and a single pillar, for other bombs and helped the trapped Marines out.

After their safe return home, Burns noticed Cak, usually a big eater, wasn't touching his food and seemed lethargic. Exploratory surgery revealed problems with his spleen.

Cak was on light duty for about a month as he recovered from the surgery. Now he and Burns, who serves in the military police, work on the base in North Carolina, searching vehicles and staying on call in case a bomb-sniffing dog is needed.

"It was up in the air whether we would have to retire him," Burns said of Cak. "But he made a dramatic recovery. He's actually better now than he was before."

Burns said Cak is more focused, has better detection skills and a higher drive than before the surgery.

But Cak won't be using those skills in Iraq.

The dog will never deploy again, Burns said, because of the surgery.

As for Burns -- a 2001 graduate of Hall-Dale High School and son of Sara and John Burns -- he's got another six months left in the Marine Corps, and he hasn't decided yet whether he'll stay for another stint.

If he does, he said, he thinks he'll take on a new job, ending his days as a dog handler and, effectively, ending his time with Cak.

"That's one of the worst parts of this job. You can't keep your dog when you leave the job," Burns said. "He's my working dog, but he's also my best friend."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com


Ellie