I served with my dog Dasty in Afghanistan. Dogs are man’s best friend on the battlefield

America is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, a milestone made possible by the service members who have answered the call of duty since 1776. But the story of our country — and how we got here — is incomplete without including the contributions of the four-legged heroes who have served alongside our brave men and women in uniform. 

These dogs deserve an extra treat and belly rub this Canine Veterans Day (March 13) — especially my Dutch Shepherd, Dasty.

Courageous canines have fought alongside U.S. troops since the Revolutionary War, helping guard munitions stockpiles and serving as battlefield messengers. Fast-forward more than 150 years, and the K-9 Corps was officially formed during World War II, with roughly 1,600 working dogs now serving in our armed forces.

Whether as bomb sniffers, trackers or assault support units, the American soldier has no better ally than man’s best friend. My four-legged sidekick is part of this patriotic legacy.

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Our story began in 2018 when I was paired with Dasty — 3 years old at the time — at Fort Huachuca out west. Although we initially worked alongside the base police department, we were soon sent to Missouri for explosive detection training, a 60-day course that taught us to work as a team to uncover deadly weapons. From there, we deployed to Afghanistan. 

Dasty and I shared a modest tent at Forward Operating Base Dahlke in the Logar Province, where twin-sized mattresses awaited both of us. My canine partner provided a huge morale boost on base and, as you can imagine, was quite popular among the service members. Other soldiers frequented our tent just to spend time with Dasty — petting sessions that I can assure you he enjoyed just as much as they did. 

Beyond bringing comfort to soldiers far from home, Dasty also saved lives. He located enemy IEDs and weapons, which too often prove deadly to American service members, and performed admirably in combat situations. While under enemy contact, Dasty stayed calm and focused.

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After the deployment ended, we returned to the states and were stationed at a military base in Northern Virginia, where Dasty’s important work continued. We participated in multiple Secret Service missions for both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, and we also helped train other military canine teams. It was gratifying to see others form such strong bonds with their dogs — a type of relationship that I had come to treasure in my own life.

Finally, in 2022, I said goodbye to the Army to pursue a new career in Wisconsin and spend more time with my family. While I was looking forward to the next phase of my life, the change meant I had to part ways with Dasty, who would remain in the military — a heartbreaking separation that I hoped would not last forever. Thankfully, we had one final chapter.

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When it was time for Dasty to retire two years later, I contacted the American Humane Society — which my wife had heard about — to see if they could help reunite us. The organization stepped up in a big way by flying Dasty from Arlington, Va., to my home in Green Bay, Wisc., and pledging to cover any future veterinary bills. The financial support proved invaluable just a few months ago when the nonprofit paid for a spinal surgery that restored Dasty’s ability to walk. 

U.S. military dogs are paws-on-the-ground all around the world — helping safeguard American lives and advance strategic national security interests as we mark 250 years of independence. Dasty is one of these loyal and patriotic heroes who deserves recognition. Now, finally off duty, he can fetch some well-earned rest — and a chew toy. 

Iran war jeopardizes Trump economic boom before key midterm elections

Will the Iran war turn President Donald Trump’s 1980s boom into a 1970s stagflation? Only if it drags out, which the president says he plans to avoid. But the enemy gets a vote too, as the saying goes, so what if it’s a long conflict?

As soon as Trump started bombing Iran, markets fell – especially growth stocks like AI. Silver plunged. Bonds fell. Even gold is now down nearly 3%, having replaced its initial war pop with an ominous flight to dollars you see in recessions.

Oil jumped 10% in two days, from $67 to $74 per barrel on the way to $86 as of writing.

Markets always react fast – and they can overreact. The question for the wider economy is how long the war disrupts Middle East oil exports.

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About 20% of global oil exports pass the narrow Strait of Hormuz that is next to Iran. Another 30% are in range of Iranian missiles in the Gulf of Oman and Red Sea.

The U.S. actually imports almost none of this – Middle East oil is just 2% of American oil consumption. But oil markets are global, so Middle East disruption drives prices up worldwide.

On the initial attack, ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz plunged by 70%, according to MarineTraffic. By March 3, it ground to a “total halt,” according to Lloyd’s List.

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Trump then ordered the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees for maritime trade through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

This will help by removing risk to shippers. But traffic is unlikely to fully recover until the campaign ends.

Trump is currently suggesting the war might take just four weeks. But the administration is also messaging the war will go “as long as it takes.”

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Promising a long war could be tactical, to demoralize the Iranian regime. But opinion polls show the American people have very little appetite for a long war.

A recent CBS poll found a war lasting fewer than eight weeks is +52 in the polls, while a war that lasts longer than that is -8. Polling would likely get worse if American casualties mount.

On the initial attack, ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz plunged by 70%, according to MarineTraffic. By March 3, it ground to a “total halt,” according to Lloyd’s List.

In terms of the economy, there will only be real fallout if the war drags on. And that falls into three baskets: growth, jobs and inflation.

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Historically, every $10 rise in oil knocks about two-tenths of a percent off economic growth. That’s small in an economy that’s growing over 3%, according to the Fed’s GDPNow. It might lower annual wage growth by about $300, given the $19 oil has already risen.

Still, that goes on top of expensive oil to heat your home or gas your car. AAA says gasoline prices have already jumped nearly 20%, from $2.98 to $3.56. Between gasoline, transport costs and utilities, that might bump inflation another six-tenths of a percent – translating into another $500 in household costs.

Meanwhile, higher oil prices and slower growth both hit job creation – given the move we’ve already seen, they might drop job creation by 15,000 to 20,000 per month.

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So it’s painful. But it’s not a recession.

What would put us in recession is a long war. A recent study by Deutsche Bank looked at historic oil shocks, concluding you need a 50% to 100% sustained jump in oil to set off a recession.

This would imply oil prices between $100 and $150 that remained high.

Even then, according to Deutsche, oil only causes recession when the economy is already limping. For example, the 1970s is the poster child for an oil crash. But the U.S. economy was already stagflationary because of Washington’s so-called guns and butter policy of fighting Vietnam while building a trillion-dollar welfare state. This drove the “Nixon Shock,” which pre-dated the oil embargo by several years.

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In contrast, when the bombs started, the Fed’s GDPNow was at a healthy 3% on GDP growth and the most recent productivity was 4.9% – one of the highest since the Reagan boom.

This means $100 oil could knock us into the 1% area on growth. But it’s unlikely to spark a recession unless the Fed panics on oil inflation and hikes rates. Which could mow down enough jobs to tip us over the edge.

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For now, the biggest war impact is oil prices. But if the war keeps going, oil trickles down to growth, jobs, consumer spending and inflation that could set off a Fed hike doom loop.

If that happens, Trump could be throwing away his hard-won boom just in time for midterm elections that hand Congress to Democrats. They will take us on a two-year journey of paralysis, congressional hearings and repeated impeachments.

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The US government targeted me for my political speech. It could happen to you, too

Three years ago, I came to the United States as a graduate student with the intention of studying public and international affairs at Columbia University, with a focus on public service. Like many who come here from across the world, I had a vision of the United States as the land of the free, a place where freedom of speech was cherished and where I could study freely. I thought it was a place where I could stand up for what I believed in without fear of retaliation from the government.

On March 8, 2025, that vision shattered. Multiple plainclothes ICE agents in unmarked cars grabbed me, without a warrant, from the lobby of my apartment building in New York and threw me on a plane to a federal detention center in Louisiana. As a green card holder with a U.S. citizen wife — who was 8 months pregnant at the time — I couldn’t believe what was happening. I had been targeted by the government because of my lawful speech in support of Palestinian rights, for protesting the use of my tax dollars and tuition fees to support the Israeli occupation.

Throughout my 104 days in federal detention, during which I missed the birth of my first child, I considered myself a political prisoner. The government had deprived me of my liberty, not because I had broken any laws, but because it didn’t like what I had to say.

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Once I challenged my detention and Secretary Rubio’s determination that my political views posed a foreign policy threat, the government scrambled to add new accusations. They alleged, baselessly, that I had committed fraud on my green card application. Claims invented not out of evidence, but out of retaliation. Recent evidence in federal court revealed that DHS itself acknowledged, a day before my arrest, that there were no issues with the information I provided on my green card application because everything was complete, true, and correct. Yet I was arrested anyway.

I was not alone. Other students and scholars with valid immigration status were similarly targeted for detention and deportation despite having committed no crime. They were pulled off streets by masked agents, targeted outside of their homes, and tricked into arrests during citizenship appointments. What happened to us is exactly what the First Amendment is designed to prevent: the government deciding which speech is acceptable and which is not. Once that protection is weakened, everyone is at risk.

The Supreme Court recognized eighty years ago that the First Amendment protects all of us in the United States — citizens and noncitizens alike — from government persecution for our beliefs. If we allow that boundary to be violated for noncitizens, or when the government claims a foreign policy concern, a precedent is created that can be used against all of us. Even citizens. Even people who disagree with me vehemently about Palestine.

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The government has argued that federal courts must let people sit in immigration detention for months or years before reviewing allegations of constitutional violations. They have argued that Pro-Palestine speech constitutes a foreign policy threat. They have argued that I deserve to be deported because they dislike my ideas. If they can do this to a lawful permanent resident with a U.S. citizen wife and newborn U.S. citizen child, there’s no telling who else they will come for.

The government isn’t allowed to control how we can speak and think. Attorneys representing me in my case, and others like me in similar cases, argued this point in court and secured our release from detention. But my case is still ongoing, and the executive branch’s immigration agency may soon order my deportation. So, I ask Americans directly: do you want to live in a country where you can be snatched off the street by plainclothes agents for your thoughts?

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In Assad’s Syria, where I grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp, that was routine. Since the beginning of 2025, the United States, a country whose Constitution protects freedom of speech, has seen an increase in these actions that I once associated with Assad: abductions by plainclothes officers without warrants, forced detention of people who express views the government doesn’t like, and the targeted silencing of dissent.

I will continue to use my platform to advocate for human rights in Palestine. But I ask each and every person reading this to use their voice to defend our First Amendment rights. The right to speak our minds, no matter who holds power, is the foundation of our democracy, and it is in peril. Whatever you may think of me or my views, that foundation belongs to all of us.