Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC) (hat tip WSJ)
According to the European edition of Time:

U.S. marines and soldiers will drive into battle across the dusty plains of Iraq with caged chickens atop their Hum-Vees.

The chickens, which were otherwise destined for Kuwaiti dinner tables, will work in the same way as canaries in coal mines used to. Small traces of poisonous gases or chemical agent will kill the birds and warn troops to put on their gas masks. "A sky full of oil can mask some chemicals," says Warrant Officer Jeff French, a nuclear, biological and chemical officer for a marine battalion in Kuwait. "Using chickens may sound basic but it's still one of the best ways we have of detecting chemical agent."

Chickens were also used in this manner in the first Gulf War. Despite the obvious need for such tactics, I wonder how long it will take PETA to protest.

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