Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT
K-9 Duc and Marine Sergeant Mike Vierig featured in this week’s episode
NEW BERLIN, WI –(Ammoland.com)- “It was just me and my dog. Me and my dog, we had to trust each other and work and prove our worth to these infantry units,” said Marine Sergeant Mike Vierig, featured in this week’s episode of Saving Private K-9. Vierig and his canine partner Duc work together to demonstrate just how important their ability to detect explosives can be in an unforgiving warzone.
Tune in to the season finale of Saving Private K-9 airing exclusively on Sportsman Channel, Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Vierig and K-9 Duc, one of the first dogs attached to an infantry unit since Vietnam, were dropped into the Iraq desert in the middle of the night. They were assigned to search 60 buildings for explosives. Duc detected many explosives and an array of weaponry in the area and made the team vitally aware of what they were really searching – a terrorist camp. With the threat of enemy fire and roadside bombs, it took them nearly a week to complete the task.
When Vierig and Duc volunteered for a life-threatening mission, he never imagined the outcome. The partners experienced a 14-hour gunfight with the enemy later coined the “Battle of Husaybah.” Duc bravely walked head-on into the battlefield with his partner and brother, without a doubt proving his significance to the infantry unit.
“The military, and the government at that time looked at these dogs as equipment, but the morale was a whole lot better with these dogs around,” admitted Vierig. “People can identify with the dog. Even though Duc may be a 90 lb. man-eating Malinois, it reminds them of their little yellow lab back home.”
The finale of Saving Private K-9 airs exclusively on Sportsman Channel – Thursday, June 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
To learn more about Saving Private K-9 and catch a sneak peek of this week’s episode, visit http://www.thesportsmanchannel.com/shows/saving-private-k-9/. To find Sportsman Channel in your area, visit the Channel Finder: http://sportsmanchannel2.viewerlink.tv/.
About Sportsman Channel:Launched in 2003, Sportsman Channel/Sportsman HD is the only television and digital media company fully devoted to honoring a lifestyle that is celebrated by millions of Americans. The leader in outdoor television, Sportsman Channel delivers entertaining and informative programming that embraces outdoor adventure, hunting and fishing, and reveals it through unique, surprising and authentic storytelling. Sportsman Channel embraces the attitude of “Red, Wild & Blue America” – where the American Spirit and Great Outdoors are celebrated in equal measure. The network also is dedicated to promoting our nation’s military heroes and veterans, as well as providing a voice for conservation throughout the United States. Sportsman Channel reaches more than 36 million U.S. television households. Stay connected to Sportsman Channel online at www.thesportsmanchannel.com; Facebook, (facebook.com/sportsmanchannel); Twitter (twitter.com/SPORTSMANchnl and twitter.com/SportsmanPR) and YouTube (youtube.com/TheSportsmanChannel).
About Pilgrim Studios: Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Studios produces a wide variety of unscripted and scripted programming for television, including hit series Fast N’ Loud, Street Outlaws and #BikerLive for Discovery; Ghost Hunters and The Wil Wheaton Project for Syfy; The Ultimate Fighter for FOX Sports 1; Down East Dickeringfor History; Orange County Choppers and Swamp Pawn for CMT; Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s and Raising Whitley for OWN (Pilgrim also produced the eight-part documentary Lindsay for the network); David Tutera: Unveiled for WEtv; Wicked Tuna and its new spin-off, Wicked Tuna: North vs. South, for National Geographic Channel; and Bring It! for Lifetime. In the scripted realm, Pilgrim’s original movies for Lifetime include Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy; Abducted: The Carlina White Story, which earned a 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing In A Motion Picture; and the crime thriller Stalkers. Among Pilgrim’s current scripted projects is the pilot Recovery Road for ABC Family, starring Samantha Logan.