How many commandos does it take to defeat Osama bin Laden? 79 commandos...and a dog.

The initial team, a mix of Navy Seals and C.I.A. operatives, arrived on the scene in two helicopters. After one of the helicopters broke down, the first team destroyed it (to leave no evidence!) and called in two backups. All in all, the mission, according to the New York Times, required 79 commandos and one dog.

So you must be asking: what’s with the dog? It turns out that the U.S. military uses dogs all the time. And since the dog’s identity hasn’t officially been released (we wouldn’t want to blow the dog’s cover) we can only guess what kind of dog it was, and why it was there. One option would be a Newfoundland, a dog that specializes in jumping from helicopters. However, these dogs are primarily employed by the Coast Guard to rescue people who are drowning. Most likely, our hero dog was a German Shepherd or similar breed, like a Dutch or Belgian Shepherd.

Dogs like these have appeared in Afghanistan and Iraq. They can be trained to detect bombs, booby traps, and even find hidden snipers! The U.S. Air Force trains Military Work Dogs to perform these kinds of wartime duties at Lackland Air Force Base. The military currently uses 530 of these dogs for missions around the world. These MWD’s used to be euthanized when they completed their tours of duty, but since 2000, you can now adopt a veteran dog! You might even be able to adopt the dog that helped catch Osama!

Check out this article to learn more about military dogs.