Oz Warrior Dog Safe After Being Missing 14 Months In The Afghan Desert

This one could make an amazing movie someday.

Sabi, a black Labrador sniffer dog trained to detect bombs was part of a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol in a remote part of Uruzgan province when it was ambushed by the Taliban back in September, 2008.

Nine soldiers were wounded in the ruckus, and one heroic digger, SAS trooper Mark Donaldson earned Australia's highest gong, the Victoria Cross for going back under heavy fire to rescue one of his men.

But there was no sign of Sabi after the firefight. The dog had simply disappeared into the desert and was never found, even though Sabi's handlers spent months searching for the dog, who was on her second tour of Afghanistan.

But last week, against all odds she was found by an American soldier near his base in another part of Uruzgan, and she made it back to her overjoyed unit just in time to give an in-depth briefing to a couple of high level visitors, Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and US commanding General Stanley McChrystal:



No one's really sure what happened to Sabi or how she survived, but she's been checked out and ruled in good health. She appears to have been well taken care of by someone, which is odd in itself since Afghans, like all Muslims, despise dogs as unclean.

Perhaps she was undercover, or conducting a bit of psychological warfare against the enemy...

Sabi's now awaiting the results of quarantine before she can be shipped home to a hero's welcome and a well deserved and happy retirement in Oz. Her handler and commanding officer wants to adopt her and take her home with him.

According to an Australian military spokesman who spoke off record, no charges will be filed against Sabi for going AWOL.

I may have made that last bit up.

As I said, an amazing story with a happy ending.