An Afghan Counter Narcotic National policeman holds the Afghan government's primary drug kingpin in Marjah, Afghanistan, May 18, 2010. (Marine Corps) As a single mission agency, the DEA’s core ...

SOUTHEAST OF MARJAH, Afghanistan, (AFP) - For the US Marines patrolling the dusty footpaths of southern Afghanistan, a bomb-sniffing black Labrador can mean the difference between life and death.

He is a former Marine Corps combat correspondent and deployed twice to Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment — first to Marjah in 2010, and then to Kajaki and Sangin in 2011.