From PTMN

Kevin’s fellow Green Beret and friend who you all know as PTMN in the comments shares this story about Kevin.

Here’s a pic of Kevin Obrien’s blood thirsty and vicious sparring mate on the ridgeline above Firebase Romero.  In the pic, the dog doesn’t look vicious at all, in fact he looks pretty timid and submissive…that’s because OB had just kicked his ass. If you click on the pic and expand the screen, you can look at that orange peel (yes, that’s a full size orange peel, not a tangerine) on the ground above the dog’s tail and use that as a size comparison to the dog’s paws, that should put in perspective how big that dog was. Another comparison is the size 11 Desert Combat Boot print in the sand in front and behind his rear paws.  OB was absolutely fearless.

It was late afternoon when acting Team Sgt Mike wanted to accompany me up to the LP/OP on the ridgeline above the base to check on our Afghan soldiers manning the post.  OB saw us gearing up and asked what we were planning, then decided to accompany us on the trek up the ridgeline.  

Once we reached the top, we all flopped down in the sand to catch a breather and down some water.  A couple of our Afghan soldiers saw us and walk toward us to greet us, so we got up off of our tired butts and started walking towards the post.  That’s when we noticed that the Afghan’s had somehow brought the Afghan version of Cujo up to their post.  

As we approached the position, Cujo started a low mean growl as he bowed up.  That beast meant business and his business was American blood.  Once I shouldered my sawed off shotgun, the Afghan’s rightfully decided that I meant business as well, so they had us stop while they tried to get Cujo under control.

While they were struggling with the beast, OB non chalantly said something about what a nice dog as he slung his M4 and starts walking toward it.  To this day, I have no idea what OB was thinking, since there wasn’t anything nice about that growling and snarling beast.  Even the Afghan’s feared for OB’s safety as he approached, since their eyes were wide open in terror.  That’s about the time the Afghans struggling with Cujo lost their grip on him and he starts charging at OB.

OB calmly kept walking towards Cujo and once Cujo lunges at him, he stuns the dog with a right hook on the left side of his furry face.  Once the dog hit the ground, OB reaches down and grabs both of his hind legs and flings Cujo into the air, resulting in the dog doing a not so graceful landing on his side, knocking the wind out of him.  That dog was pissed!  He got up, shook his stunned head, then went on the attack again.  As Cujo lunged at OB again, OB calmly grabbed Cujo by the neck mid air with both hands and it kind of looked like the two were dancing partners, since OB had the dog upright with only his hind legs touching the ground while he was choking him out. 

Cujo started biting OB’s wrists and upper hands and that’s about when OB decided his two hands were not big enough to choke Cujo into submission, so he flung the dog to the side.  In fact, he flung Cujo so hard, the dog was stunned when his head hit the ground.  Mike took advantage of the time Cujo was stunned and stepped on Cujo’s neck and shoved the barrel of his M4 in Cujo’s mouth.  That’s when a couple of our Afghan soldiers started bawling like babies, pleading for the Cujo’s life, so Mike got off his neck and stepped back on the condition that the Afghan’s kept Cujo under control.  

By then, Cujo had decided that he had enough and just laid on his side.  He went from being a vicious and terrifying beast, to the submissive dog in the picture.  OB just looked at Cujo, then looked as Mike and said “I didn’t need your help, I kicked the dog’s ass by myself”.  

OB’s hands were pretty torn up, so we radioed down to the TOC that we had a casualty.  Unfortunately, they weren’t satisfied with the vague report and had us radio more details about the casualty as we made our descent down the ridgeline.  As we approached the Firebase, Sergeant Major was standing at the entrance with both hands on his hips and a stern look of disgust on his face as he looked OB in the eyes and just shook his head.  I tried my best not to make eye contact with Sergeant Major, but it didn’t work.  He motioned for me to come over, then says, “Why is it that there’s always trouble when you two are together?”  About 3 hours later, the Medevac finally arrived to get OB to Bagram for possible rabies exposure.  

Another helicopter brought OB back a few days later and the first thing OB asks me is if he needs to kick the dog’s ass again.  Yes, OB was a fearless warrior and I am grateful to have been one of his friends.