Military working dogs, along with their handlers from every military service, are deployed worldwide to support the War on Terror, helping to safeguard military bases and activities and to detect bombs and other explosives before they inflict harm. With an acute sense of smell — five to 10 times stronger than a human’s — working dogs can detect minute traces of explosives or drugs and alert the handlers of their presence. But at the same time, dogs have the ability to inflict fear in an aggressor in a way a human — even if armed — often can’t, and will defend their handlers to the end. A published news article explained, ”People see a dog and don’t want to mess with it,” said Staff Sgt. Andrew Mier, is a military working dog trainer who has deployed to Southwest Asia three times as a handler, twice to Saudi Arabia and once to Qatar. “A dog creates a strong psychological deterrent.” The U.S. military has used working dogs since the Revolutionary War, initially as pack animals, and later, for more advanced uses, such as killing rats in the trenches during World War I. But World War II witnessed the biggest surge in the use of working dogs to support military operations. The U.S. military deployed more than 10,000 specially trained canines, most as sentries, but others as scouts, messengers, and mine detectors.