ROBIN YOUNG, HOST:
It's HERE AND NOW. And now news from Afghanistan. The Taliban is claiming responsibility for that attack on a luxury hotel in Kabul last night. Four gunmen came into the hotel, pulled out pistols and started firing. Nine people were killed, including an Afghan journalist, his wife and two children, who were eating dinner. Here's a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: At 9 o'clock, they started shooting on some of the personnel of the hotel. We got information right away, and we sent our police commander forces, and there was an operation going on.
YOUNG: The four attackers were eventually killed, and the shooting spree was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks by militants as they step up a campaign of violence ahead of the April 5 elections. Well, that's the latest news. Our next guest knows a thing or two about violence in Afghanistan. Army Specialist Nathaniel Korpusik served there in 2013, and he had a constant companion, a German shepherd named Zino. Zino detected improvised explosive devices, and he was darn good at it. In fact as a team, Zino and Nate were more successful finding IEDs than many other teams.
But Nate came home without Zino because of course Zino belonged to the military, and until recently he didn't know what happened to him. And that's where Carol Clark enters this story. Carol adopted Zino, but when she found out about Nate, she decided to give Zino back to him. They're being reunited today, and Nate and Carol join us now. Carol, are you there?
CAROL CLARK: Yes, ma'am.
YOUNG: And Nate, welcome to you, as well.
SPECIALIST NATE KORPUSIK: Thank you, and nice to talk to you.
YOUNG: Well, we're going to have to start at the end. I can't imagine how you're feeling being reunited with this friend.
KORPUSIK: It literally is like going to be like seeing a long lost friend, somebody you haven't seen in a long time.
YOUNG: Tell us more about why you have this bond with Zino. Tell us more about what you did in Afghanistan.
KORPUSIK: It's very difficult to not bond with an animal that is quite literally saving your life on a day-to-day basis. Every day you're asked to go out on a patrol and not just go out on a patrol but actually lead the patrol. And you're in front of everybody else, clearing the way, looking for explosives, weapons caches. You're the point person to try and keep everybody safe. So it's very difficult to not bond with Zino because he's keeping your life and the lives of your closest friends safe.
YOUNG: Yeah, and we know that men and women and their dogs have been killed doing this work.
KORPUSIK: While we were over there, we did lose one of the other dogs due to an IED explosion, Zino's doppelganger pretty much. It was - his name was Max. He got blown up, but he was on track to be one of the most successful dogs, just an amazing German shepherd.
YOUNG: And, you know, more about what makes them amazing. Again your work in the Army infantry, Third Infantry Division, Bravo Company, Third Battalion, 15th Regiment, Fourth Brigade, and Zino a part of it. What makes a good dog?
KORPUSIK: You see all kinds of breeds that actually do this work. We had Labradors. We had pit bulls. I had a German shepherd because that's the personality type. They actually try to pair you up. What makes them good at it, I believe, is not just that they have a great sniffer and a great nose, it's their ability to adapt to any situation.
They can be in hot weather, cold weather, and they're relentless. They just don't stop. They will keep going on 20-mile walks looking for things without giving up, until they get to the point of complete exhaustion, which is usually after I would be tired.
YOUNG: This is part of the bond between a soldier and a dog. They're doing this for you, and we remember the story about the British soldier who was killed in combat, and his dog died soon after, and people were convinced it was from a broken heart.
KORPUSIK: You hear about that fairly often. There are a lot of dog handlers that are missing their dogs. They're very upset about it, and they're all trying to go along the same path that I am.
YOUNG: And find them. Well let's bring in Carol because Carol, what happened here? Did the - does the military adopt these dogs out after they serve? I mean, how did you come across Zino?
CLARK: Well apparently they were retired, and a friend of mine had posted on Facebook the military war dogs were coming home, and they were being adopted out. And as soon as he made the post, I said I've got to have one. I said just not for the fact that he was military but just that, I mean, an awesome responsibility, an awesome honor to be able to be a forever home for one of them.
YOUNG: So you do, you adopt Zino. What was your relationship with Zino?
CLARK: He's my big baby. He - I have a smaller dog at home, but my daughter's getting ready to leave for college, and I have been in emergency services. I have worked with police officers and highway patrol, sheriff's department. And I thought, you know, this would be a very good form of protection, number one, and the second one was, you know, how could I maybe incorporate owning a dog like this into the emergency services aspect of it, missing children, I didn't know where we were going to go with this. I just knew in my heart, not knowing his history, I just knew that he had served his country and that somehow I wanted to play a part in his retirement.
YOUNG: What is it like to hear, and as you have been, you know, he didn't just serve his country, he saved lives, he found IEDs?
CLARK: I didn't know that until I actually talked to Nate. We knew when - when the friend of mine called me, he said Carol, he says Jonas County Sheriff's Department adopted some dogs. Well, unfortunately they are not allowed to keep - they can't keep him because they need him certified in drug detection. And if a dog is certified in bomb detection, they have a very difficult time being certified in narcotics and it standing up in a court of law.
For example if something is found inside a gas tank, a good attorney could get that charge off because did the dog smell the gas tank, or did the dog smell the narcotics of whatever.
YOUNG: It sounds like there's concerns that it would blur the line and maybe make the detection not usable in court, so they want to separate out the bomb detectors and the drug detectors. So Zino goes to you. And I'm sure, you know, he was your baby, as you said. When did Nate come back in the picture? How did you find out that Nate was actually looking for him?
CLARK: The friend of mine that actually helped me get him contacted me and said there's been some serviceman and handler, and he is trying to locate his dog, and you have Zino.
YOUNG: Let me bring Nate back in. So Nate, you had been looking for Zino.
KORPUSIK: I had for basically the last couple months out straight. I had an idea of where he was up until about, oh, end of January.
YOUNG: Well, so Carol, here suddenly is Nate. And you have decided to give Zino back to him, and that's going to happen today. How hard is that to give up this dog that you've come to love?
CLARK: You're going to make me cry.
(LAUGHTER)
CLARK: It's going to be very difficult, but it's something that has to be done. You know, I think of it as if my child was missing, or my child had gotten kidnapped. I would move heaven and Earth to get her back to me. And I think that's the bond that Nate and Zino have.
YOUNG: Well Nate, I mean, Carol's, it sounds like, making a sacrifice for you.
KORPUSIK: She definitely is. I can't thank her enough. For us it's not just a working relationship with a partner. It goes beyond that. It's more like a father-son relationship, to the point at which in training you're even called dad. You're not called master or owner. You're called dad, and that's the best way to describe it.
YOUNG: Well so now you're going to have Zino back. Nate, how about visiting privileges for Carol?
(LAUGHTER)
KORPUSIK: Absolutely. Carol and anybody else that wants to come to see Zino is more than welcome to, especially now that he's turned into a little bit of a celebrity.
(LAUGHTER)
YOUNG: Carol, what a tremendous thing that you're doing. And Nate, we just wish you the best in your reunion today with Zino.
KORPUSIK: Thank you so much.
YOUNG: Nate Korpusik served in Afghanistan with a bomb-detecting dog named Zino, adopted by Carol Clark, who is now giving Zino back to Nate today. Thank you both so much.
KORPUSIK: Thank you.
CLARK: Thank you.
YOUNG: And we'll link you to websites that can facilitate if you're looking for a retired military dog or maybe interested in adopting one, as Carol said, what an awesome honor. You're listening to HERE AND NOW. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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