地雷探知犬と兵士の物語 ― handler

今日はオフィスで地震に見舞われてしまいました。長距離通信社の私はそのまま帰宅困難者となり、会社で足止めを食っています。

仕方がありませんので今日の投稿は会社からです。（本当はあまり良くないのですが・・・）

さて、気を取り直して、地雷探知犬と兵士の心温まる、しかし悲しいお話を昼休みに見つけました。


Liam and Theo were a team, fast friends doing a dangerous job — searching for roadside bombs laid by insurgents in Afghanistan.

The jovial British soldier and his irrepressible dog worked and played together for months, and died on the same day.

On Thursday they came home, flown back to Britain in a repatriation ceremony for the soldier remembered for his empathy with animals and the companion he loved.

Lance-Cpl. Liam Tasker, a dog handler with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, was killed in a firefight with insurgents in Helmand Province on March 1 as he searched for explosives with Theo, a bomb-sniffing springer spaniel mix.
(Fallen soldier and his dog honoured in U.K. The Associated Press. March 10, 2011.)


今日の単語、"handler"は警察犬などの訓練者、調教師のことを指します。

涙を誘うストーリーです。本文はこちら。