“The Portuguese Water Dog is a breed of working dog as classified by the American Kennel Club. Portuguese Water Dogs are originally from the Portuguese region of the Algarve, from where the breed expanded to all around Portugal's coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen's nets, to retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and to act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore. Portuguese Water Dogs rode in bobbing fishing trawlers as they worked their way from the warm Atlantic waters of Portugal to the frigid fishing waters off the coast of Iceland where the fleets caught cod to bring home. Portuguese Water Dogs were often taken with sailors during the Portuguese discoveries”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Kix, a Portuguese Water Dog , enjoys a walk around the muddy fields near his home before the grooming and preparation starts for this years Crufts on March 3, 2009 in Telford, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A 10 km prologue dog sled race on the eve of the 2018 Beringia dog sled race in Russia' s Far East; the prologue race is part of the 2018 Russian Winter Dog Powered Sports Cup in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia on March 4, 2018. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Disabled dogs outfitted with wheelchairs walk at an animal rescue center on July 12, 2008 in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, China. The center has adopted over 100 stray dogs and cats from quake-struck areas. Those who were hurt or disabled are outfitted with a cart to help support they're body and make them mobile. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

A gold prospector is detained by agents of Brazil’s environmental agency on the Uraricoera River during an operation against illegal gold mining on indigenous land, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in Roraima state, Brazil April 15, 2016. At over 9.5 million hectares, the Yanomami territory is twice the size of Switzerland and home to around 27,000 indians. The land has legally belonged to the Yanomami since 1992, but illegal miners continue to plague the area, sawing down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury in their lust for gold. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

Libyan rebel soldiers watch as they fire rockets (background) toward Libyan government troops near front-line positions April 6, 2011 outside of Brega, Libya. Rebel militias fighting against Libyan government loyalist soldiers continued their stand-off in the eastern Libyan desert today, regaining ground toward a key oil port while awaiting further NATO airstrikes in their quest to unseat longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

It’s a classic tale of dictatorship gone wrong and the fight for freedom. Like in any good battle, there’s fire, albeit from firecrackers, but the ammunition in this one is – flour. It takes place in a Hemingway-esque Spanish village. The battle of “Enfarinats” in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival, rages on on December 28, 2012 in Ibi, Spain. Citizens of Ibi annually celebrate the festival with a fight using flour, eggs and firecrackers. The battle takes place between two groups, a group of married men called “Els Enfarinats” who take the control of the village for one day pronouncing a number of ridiculous laws and fining the citizens that infringe them and a group called “La Oposicio” who try to restore order. At the end of the day the money collected from the fines is donated to charitable causes in the village. The festival has been celebrated since 1981 after the town of Ibi recovered the tradition but the origins remain unknown.

Photo: A Reveller smokes during the battle of “Enfarinats”, a flour fight in celebration of the Els Enfarinats festival. (Photo by David Ramos)