U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Isaiah Schult, a dog handler

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Isaiah Schult, a dog handler with Jump Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and 20-year-old Indianapolis native, jokes with Afghan children while providing security with Big, an improvised explosive device detection dog, during a shura outside a local residence here, Nov. 22, 2011. On deployment in Helmand province’s Garmsir district, the ‘America’s Battalion’ dog handlers and their improvised explosive device detection dogs live, travel and work together. In a combat environment largely devoid of the safety and comforts of home, the energetic Labrador retrievers are neither pets nor expendable objects. They’re faithful friends and saviors of Marines. Since arriving here in November, IED detection dogs have found four drug caches and two IEDs.