Chesney penned No Ordinary Dog, the factual story and timeline of Cairo and his work, their relationship, and Chesney’s own personal struggles with mental health.
“A military working dog must be a fighter first and foremost,” Chesney told We Are The Mighty. “We have a saying, ‘Dogs have a switch on or off mode,’ [so when you] put their vest on, they know they’re working, turn it off, they’re playful. You could turn it off, [and] Cairo was a family dog. He got attacked by my girlfriend’s mom’s bulldog and got his arm sliced up. And he didn’t do anything, [but] as soon as you put on his vest, he knew it was time to go to work and was always happy to go to work.”
Adds Chesney, “There is something uniquely American about a man and his dog. This is not a SEAL book, and it’s not a dog book. It’s a story about friendship.”
Cairo was not expected to redeploy, but on May 2, 2011, Chesney and Cairo were part of the team of two dozen Navy SEALs who touched down in Pakistan and descended upon Osama bin Laden’s compound in what would come to be known as Operation Neptune Spear.
Post-mission, life went on for Chesney and he deployed again, but this time without Cairo. A grenade blast in 2013 left him with a brain injury, PTSD and the inability to participate in missions.
How much is a Navy SEAL dog worth?
All said, the dogs and their training cost up to $40,000 each. Including the highly specialized gear of MPCs, the cost can be tens of thousands of dollars higher.
How did Cairo the dog die?
During a mission in 2009 that involved heavy firefight with insurgents, Cairo was shot. “I remember seeing him drop and I thought he was dead,” Chesney said. “I was devastated, but we had to continue the mission.
Cairo died a year after he went to live with Chesney, but Chesney will never forget his legacy, and he hopes that Cairo’s story will inspire more people to support veteran’s mental health services and charities.
No Ordinary Dog: How “Cairo” TOOK DOWN Osama Bin Laden | Navy SEAL Will Chesney | Huckabee
Will Chesney, an “ordinary” high school student living in a Southeast Texas trailer park, had a big dream—to become a Navy SEAL. In a gripping autobiography, No Ordinary Dog, he chronicles his journey from enlistment through SEAL training and multiple deployments. Along the way, Chesney became a dog handler, with MWD Cairo as his four-legged partner. Yes, he was “dad” to the dog who served during the 2011 Osama Bin Laden raid.