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.

He has been a graphic designer, 3d artist, photo-retoucher as well as illustrator. One thing is for sure, Brian Despain makes one amazing fine artist. This piece started as a post-it note and then ended up this dynamic piece after much work, apparently he thought it looked too much like Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants. Brian is currently in a group show at Roq La Rue in Seattle. The print is signed and numbered in an edition of 30. There are two other prints available as well just in case you another one of them hits you better.

Talented French artist, Pierre Beteille, is skillful in manipulation of portraits (specially his own self portraits) using Photoshop. This is how he describes himself: “I am not a photographer or an artist, I just make images… I shoot very average or even bad photos that I try to improve thanks to Photoshop”…

Photo: “En attendant d'avoir des balles”...., 2007 (Photo by Pierre Beteille)

A young boy rests by empty USAID vegetable oil tins in the Dagahaley refugee camp which makes up part of the giant Dadaab refugee settlement on July 19, 2011 in Dadaab, Kenya. The refugee camp at Dadaab, located close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, was originally designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people but the UN estimates over 4 times as many reside there. The ongoing civil war in Somalia and the worst drought to affect the Horn of Africa in six decades has resulted in an estimated 12 million people whose lives are threatened. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

An Afghan child practices walking with his new prosthesis at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), orthopedic center on September 10, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. After more than 30 years of war and a decade since the 9/11 attacks in the United States, thousands of Afghans, both military and civilian, continue to pay a heavy price from the conflict. The ICRC center makes prosthetics for amputees and helps them, as well as Afghans with spinal injuries and children with congenital birth defects, to learn to walk. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A woman walk by South Korean police during a anti-terror exercise on March 9, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. The drill is part of South Korea's preparation for the upcoming 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, scheduled for March 26 and 27. Some 50 world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, are expected to attend the summit to discuss how to make the world safe without nuclear weapons. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

In this Thursday, October 18, 2018 photo, contestants wait for their performance backstage during the National Amateur Body Builders' Association competition in Tel Aviv, Israel. Dozens of glistening competitors took the stage for the annual body building and fitness competition last week. But behind the scenes, machismo makes way for cooperation. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)