Thank you, Rebecca Frankel of Foreign Policy, for creating a wonderful gallery about the dogs of war, pegged to the fact that a dog was among the contingent of commandos sent to kill Osama Bin Laden. The two lead photographs show dogs jumping out of aircraft, which I find totally mindblowing. Here's Frankel's excellent explanation:

The question of how the dog got into bin Laden's compound is no puzzle -- the same way the special ops team did, by being lowered from an MH-60s helicopter. In fact, U.S. Air Force dogs have been airborne for decades, though the earliest flying dogs accompanied Soviet forces in the 1930s.

Dogs usually jump in tandem with their trainers, but when properly outfitted with flotation vests they can make short jumps into water on their own. A U.S. Navy SEAL, Mike Forsythe, and his dog, Cara -- pictured [below] -- recently broke the world record for "highest man/dog parachute deployment" by jumping from 30,100 feet.