“The most fearless in a big united family” – this is how the servicemen from the 10th Saky Naval Aviation Brigade commented on the photo of Labrador Black on their Facebook page. They refer to the pitch-black dog with shining fur that rears on its hind legs proudly and somewhat sadly; in the background one can see wheels of some aircraft. The big united family includes all the naval pilots of the Saky Brigade where Black’s owner, Yurii (who asked not to mention his surname), is serving. Yurii and Black went on a hard flight on An-26 from Novofedorivka to Mykolaiv, after which the dog guarded the owner’s bed in the barrack, got meatballs from the employees of the soldiers’ canteen, longed for his Crimean home, but remained the heart of military unit and became nearly a local star. Why? Read the story below.
On March 3, 2014 on the airfield in Novofedorivka, where Saky Naval Aviation Brigade was stationed, they were getting ready for a very important flight – in front of “polite green men,” who not long before that came to the military men with “nice talks” and brought their munitions to the military unit. The commander of the brigade decided that they wouldn’t surrender to the enemy. Neither were they going to leave the aircraft (the brigade is equipped with helicopters Ka-27, Mi-14, planes An-26, An-2, and Be-12) to the enemy. They decided to bring the aircraft up early in the morning. Without coordinating his decision with the higher officials, undertaking the responsibility for bringing out the equipment and the crew, the commander of the brigade managed to do impossible. All the helicopters and planes, with Black on An-26, they moved successfully to the Mykolaiv airfield. Later this operation was called one of the first victories of our army in the war against the occupant. Later the servicemen understood that some of their brothers-in-arms changed the blue-and-yellow flag for the three-colored Russian one and broke their oath. Now Yurii says sadly that only 20 percent of the personnel moved to Mykolaiv, which are 200 people out of a thousand. And their commander of the brigade has not received any reward from the state. If they stayed at least for one day more, the “green men” would have seized the airfield completely.
Only a week later after the flight, sadness faded away from Black’s face. “When we received an order to bring up the aircraft, I sent my wife and children to western Ukraine, whereas the dog was staying with me. But we had to leave, taking into account those circumstances. We didn’t know when we would return. I couldn’t leave him with someone else, right? I decided to take him with me. And then we would see,” Yurii recalls, for some reason explaining why he took the dog with him. Everything is logical and clear in what concerns a strong friendship. The dog has been living in the serviceman’s family for five years, and he often followed his owner to the airfield, like to work. He even took part in flights, so it is not a strange thing for the dog to be in the cabin of a plane. The family moved to Crimea 10 years go. Before that, Yurii had served in Lviv until his unit was discontinued. To continue to serve in the army, he found a job in the peninsula.
“We packed our things, came to the airfield, when the order was given to launch, the crew got on the plane. Black could stand the flight, because we had often flown with him,” Yurii recalls the March events. “In Mykolaiv, where we were lodged in a barrack at first, he was guarding my bed. Later I took him to the airfield, and the locals were surprised to see a seaman’s dog – that is how most of them call him till present day. On the first day after arrival we put on a striped vest on him, he showed off in it in the unit. I said it was specially to boost spirits of the crew and for psychological relief. People, who didn’t know what awaited them in the future, were smiling; he made us feel relaxed. Like any dog, he comes to you and fawn upon you, and you stroke him. He has been living here with us ever since.”
And several months after his moving to Mykolaiv, Yurii’s family joined them. Now they are renting a flat. They mentioned that in Crimea they had a flat of their own, issued to them by the state not so long ago. But life continues. The children went to a new school and like the big city, according to their dad. And Black seems to get some advantages from Mykolaiv: he found several “fiancees” and already has puppies. But the most important thing is that he follows his owner to work, like used to do in Novofedorivka. This is a small thing, but it helps to gather all moments of life into a ball, though the thread had to be tied several times.
“It was hard for the dog to get used to the new place, because he used to be with me all the time. Back in Novofedorivka he was a hooligan – he tore wallpapers or floor covering. The dog barked loudly, when no one was home, and our downstairs neighbor was a woman with a baby, so it was easier to take him with us, and he got used to the company very much, it was hard for him to be away from me. When I took my wife and children to our parents, Black was staying with them. Incidentally, we had a feeling that everything would not settle down soon. We have a photo of Black during those migrations, his face is sad. This is his nature, he gets used to the owner, not the place. And now he is ready to follow me to work every morning and waves his tail,” the owner says.
The dog feels happy that he is a frequent guest of the airfield. And it is so now. Another advantage he gets from the joint service with his owner – Black is absolutely free, he does not go on a leash. The waitresses in the canteen know him and give him some meatballs or pieces of meat. “He’s a local star and a kind of a calling card for our brigade. He was having fun with the crew, because he loves company. And everyone loves him here. And he was relaxing us here, helping to relieve the stress,” Yurii seems to talk about his four-leg friend for a long time. Who knows, maybe this story of faithfulness will become groundwork for legends at some point of time in the future?
