759th Ordnance Company commander reunited with working dog Bongo, 3 years after patrolling in Afghanistan together

There is nothing I love more than a wholesome military working dog story, and that’s exactly what we found on the unofficial Army Reddit page this week.

Army Capt. Jacob Rafalson, commander of the 759th Ordnance Company (EOD), posted on the subreddit this week that he “unexpectedly ran into” the dog that ran patrols with him in Afghanistan three years ago while “working a random detail [halfway] across the country.” Rafalson told Task & Purpose on Tuesday that the dog, Bongo, was a highlight for him on that 2019 deployment that he still talks and thinks about.

“You’re always looking for something to feel good about on deployments, especially when they’re rough,” Rafalson said. “And he was that something for me, that I was always super happy when he was around, I was happy when we got to work with him in the truck. So seeing him all these years later, where I still thought about this dog … was a completely surreal moment.”