While the bond between members of a military unit is strong, an even stronger one lies within it: one of a soldier and man's best friend.
For Shaun Ward, a former Lance Corporal and dog handler with the Australian Army, and his military working dog Aussie, they had an inseparable bond.
"He was a bit of a mischief maker and he loved the water and he had a lot of character for a Labrador," Mr Ward said.
"When it was work time, he was switched on, but when it was time to chill out, he'd sleep beside you in the swag." During the two years the pair spent together on duty in Afghanistan, Aussie worked to detect explosives out in the field and carry out patrol searches.
Aussie underwent four deployments to Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands before he retired, dying of old age in 2017, aged 16.
The Labrador will now have a permanent home at the Australian War Memorial with his ashes interred as part of a new memorial honouring all military working dogs and the handlers since World War I.
Called Circling into Sleep, the memorial features 37 paw prints cast in bronze laid out in a spiral, representing the pattern dogs make before they lie down to sleep. Aussie's remains are interred below a tear-shaped piece of granite, made from an off-cut of a memorial created more than 10 years ago for all animals in war.
The war memorial's acting director Brian Dawson said it was important to honour the work carried out by dogs in war.
"Dogs including Aussie have detected explosives, searched for and attacked the enemy, provided base security and laid their lives on the line to save others," he said. The memorial was created by artist Steven Holland, who worked with an explosive detection dog named Billie at the Holsworthy Barracks to help create the paw prints.
"We had to create a large bed of clay, and Billie had to be trained by the handler so she could walk in the pattern [of a dog getting ready to lie down]," he said.
"The war memorial didn't want a bronze sculpture of a dog because there's so many different kinds of dogs that work in the military, and it means this would be open to all kinds of dogs."
Mr Ward said the memorial meant others would learn of the sacrifices made by dogs in the military.