Purple Heart Marine Survived IED. Losing His Combat Dog Was Worse. | Alfred Brenner USMC

About this story

Marine K9 handler Alfred Brenner and his military working dog Grief were hit by the same IED in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Alfred survived. Grief was the only KIA that day.

Sgt. Alfred Brenner IV is a Purple Heart recipient, retired USMC military police K9 handler, and author of Surviving with Grief. He never wanted to be a dog handler, he volunteered for the program out of spite and openly hated dogs. Eleven months later he was paired with MWD Grief, M107, a German Shepherd bought in Germany who ignored every command until Alfred figured out the dog only spoke German.

On October 24, 2010, during Operation Dragon Strike, Alfred's patrol hit two IEDs in the same afternoon. Army Specialist Steven DuPont was killed in the first. The second one put Alfred on the ground, blind, listening to a nine-line go out over the radio: one wounded, one killed. He assumed it was the captain. It was only when he noticed nobody was saying his dog's name that he understood.

This is the full conversation, Jersey to Parris Island, MP school to Lackland, Kandahar, Walter Reed, the book, and the second dog. Fifteen years later, Alfred still has Grief's ashes in the taped-up urn the kennel master apologized for.

Host: Ronnie Long, USMC radio operator, 3/5 Darkhorse, Sangin 2010-11.

FIND ALFRED
Website: survivingwithgrief.com
Instagram: @sgtbrenner
Book: Surviving with Grief on Amazon
Alfred is donating book profits to US War Dogs.

In their words

“That’s all I want to do is just talk and travel and make an impact.”

“Everyone has a story. We’re not all Navy SEALs kicking in doors, but we can all tell whatever story it is.”

Chapters

1. 00:00 "I didn't hear anybody talking about my dog"
2. 00:41 Never seen Team America. Or Star Wars.
3. 02:06 Welcome to Vegas Veteran Voices
4. 02:48 Keaton is the best Batman
5. 04:12 Combat comedy: why Marines joke while dying
6. 05:15 "I'm aerodynamic" Juan Valdez takes a sniper round
7. 06:19 Arguing with the medic while bleeding out
8. 07:01 King David's bodyguard and the lion

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9. 07:44 Jersey, pizza, and the boardwalk
10. 09:10 Growing up in Jackson, NJ
11. 09:52 Why a Jersey kid picks the Marine Corps
12. 11:17 Art college and a doctorate in deliciousness
13. 12:03 "I'm not gonna kill people and put it on my resume"
14. 13:29 The wish list and MP school at Fort Leonard Wood
15. 14:42 "I hate dogs" volunteering for K9 out of spite
16. 15:36 Lackland: a million dogs and an ammo can
17. 17:44 Bite dogs, search dogs, and 1st MEF
18. 19:08 How handlers get paired with their dog
19. 19:50 Anxiety runs down the leash
20. 20:33 MWD Grief, M107 and the German commands
21. 21:17 Iraq 2009 becomes Afghanistan 2010
22. 22:00 Thirty dogs on one plane
23. 23:26 Combat drops and Marine Corps pilots
24. 24:54 Looking at 17-year-olds and thinking about war
25. 26:18 Sniper platoon, then Kandahar
26. 27:01 Operation Dragon Strike
27. 28:01 Bangalores and controlled dets
28. 29:36 "Was the dog on or off leash?"
29. 30:21 What a patrol explosive dog actually does
30. 31:54 The first blast and the kid in the crater
31. 32:56 Specialist Steven DuPont
32. 33:43 Everything went white
33. 34:29 One wounded, one killed
34. 35:04 The flight home, blind
35. 36:39 The triple amputee who changed his mind
36. 37:26 Walter Reed and the VIP floor
37. 39:20 "I've never openly had this conversation"
38. 39:51 Surviving with Grief: a terrible title, a true one
39. 41:24 The journal that became a book
40. 42:13 How the Marine Corps brings a dog home
41. 43:23 "It looks like shit" the ashtray urn
42. 43:50 The dog he didn't want
43. 44:41 Thirteen miles in 110 degrees
44. 45:23 The tumor nobody caught
45. 46:17 "I didn't realize how close I was to that dog"
46. 47:16 Heart dogs
47. 47:51 "My son's gone. My dog was still there."
48. 49:11 Pulling up to the Leatherneck Club
49. 51:04 Speaking, school, and what's next
50. 52:50 Where to find Alfred
51. 54:43 The weekend brief
52. 55:45 You are not a burden