Operation Good Boy

31 years ago today, at 9:02 in the morning, a bomb tore through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

168 people were killed. Hundreds more were injured. And in the hours and days that followed, first responders from across the country descended on the rubble to do the only thing they could: search for survivors.

Among them were the dogs.

More than 300 search and rescue dogs were deployed to Oklahoma City. Working in shifts around the clock, through rubble and dust and heartbreak, they searched. They found the living. They found the fallen. They kept going when the conditions made it nearly impossible for their human partners to continue.

Handlers have spoken about the psychological toll on their dogs: animals trained to find the living who, in Oklahoma City, found very few. Some dogs had to be regularly rotated out. Some showed signs of distress. They felt the weight of it, in whatever way dogs feel weight.

They didn't stop.

To the first responders who ran toward that building, in uniform and out, on two legs and four, we remember. We honor. We don't forget.

ONE LOYAL PACK. 🇺🇸

K9 COMMENDATION 🎖️

This week: Layka: the Belgian Malinois who was shot four times and still completed the mission.

In 2013, Layka was deployed with US Special Forces in Afghanistan. During a raid, she was sent into a building to neutralize a threat before soldiers entered. Inside, she was shot four times at close range.

She still completed the mission.

By the time her handler, Staff Sgt. Julian McDonald, reached her, she had one leg left that could be saved. She survived. She underwent surgery. She recovered.

When she was retired from service, Staff Sgt. McDonald adopted her. Layka now lives with his family -- including his young son, who she protects with the same ferocity she brought into that building in Afghanistan.

Four bullets. One leg. Zero quit.

OGB proudly supports Military Working Dog charities.