Posted on 11/28/2005 5:40:47 AM PST by Wolfie
Congress acts to let wounded soldier to keep her on-duty dog
McKean County native to adopt 'Rex,' her bomb sniffing canine
This is the story of a soldier and her dog, and the act of Congress required to keep them together.
It began in July, when Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana woke up, confused, in a hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Her last memory was riding in a military convoy in Iraq after she and her bomb sniffing dog, Rex, had searched a village. She remembered being in extreme pain. And she remembered asking frantically about Rex, eventually being told that he had not survived.
But she didn't know that the military had told her husband, fellow Air Force security officer Mike Dana, that she wasn't going to survive her injuries.
She didn't know that, after a bomb exploded under her Humvee, she spent more than a week in military hospitals in Iraq and Germany before arriving in Washington.
And she didn't know that Rex had survived the bombing with only a minor burn on his nose.
Click here for rest of story.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Remember, this is a young woman and dog that John Murtha said was the enemy. I wonder how he voted on this?
God bless this young lady and her dog.
Really? Got a quote?
ALRIGHT...Congress actually does something worthwhile....
Such good news...thanks for posting it....
Made my day...
Thank you Lord Jesus...and please heal this soldier and watch over her and her pup...
I'm glad for the happy ending, and somewhat surprised that these dogs only cost $18K to train.
With all due respect it is not her dog.... It's the US Army's dog and it is needed to save lives. It costs $18,000 and a couple of years to train one of these animals. I can sympathize with the Sergeant, but this is kind of selfish.
Now watch the military and government try to find her a job as there is no reason she cannot work full time etc etc.
Selfish??? What on earth are you doing on FR?
After six months in Pakistan, she and Rex returned to Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., where she was stationed. And even though she wasn't scheduled to be deployed again, Sgt. Dana wanted to go to Iraq.
"I pretty much begged to go," she said. "It felt useless sitting there and watching it on TV, like I wasn't doing my part."
Can we force the press to use correct english in it's articles and headlines???
I could always send this freak to Iraq to take Rexs' place.
This military business is not for the emotional. That dog never belonged to her and can save the lives of many of her peers over in Iraq. Military duty is all about putting the team over self and that means allowing "her" dog to continue saving the lives of american Soldiers. That's the bottomline here. Sorry if my post struck a nerve.
I fully expect Murtha to politicize this issue under the guise of being a "hawk".
In that vein did you take note of my other comment???
You opinion is duly noted..thanks for the negative feedback. Emotions should have nothing to do with this. The Sergeant knows she shouldn't have become extremely attached to a military working dog. We have 160,000 troops on the deck in Iraq right now and it that dog detects a single IED it is more important than the sergeant's attachment to the animal.
I'm surprised this issue even made it up the Chain of Command.
It is almost assured that this young lady will suffer the rest of her life and that a duty bound government will gouge her financially and health wise at every turn in the road.
It would be interesting to be able to project her station in life, five years down the road.
Great picture
yeah, how dare you disagree with us, where do you think you are? LOL!
My understanding of the policy is it's one dog, one handler. If the handler who trained the dog from day one is rendered unfit for duty, the dog's career is over. If she didn't take the dog, it would likely have been put down.
At a certain age the pooch gets retired. Maybe it was close enough to its retirement age that it wouldn't have been worth training it to a different handler.
So if a dog handler seperates from the military or transfers, the dog is no longer usable? That doesn't sound right.
Previous story:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1525606/posts
Wounded vet wants Air Force dog
The Shepherds/Tervurens tend to be "one man dogs". For a new handler, he'd probably have to be retrained at considerable expense. At a minimum, he'd have to be familiarized with a new handler. The dogs also have a relatively short working life. Considering the potential investment in retraining (which may or may not "take") and his remaining working life, it may make more sense to train a new dog with the new handler rather than attempting to retrain an older dog with a shorter working life.
Also, if you don't become 'emotionally attached' to your dog, he won't work for you worth a darn. It's like having a good dancing partner - dog knows what you're thinking before you know it yourself, and vice versa. You get emotionally involved as part of the job.
I have a very generous and outgoing Lab who (unlike the schuetzen type dogs) will happily work for ANYbody, whether running agility courses or picking up ducks (especially if there's a treat in the guest of honor's pocket). But the difference between her working with somebody else and working for me is quite noticeable - we're a team.
This is much more true for a military working dog in a life or death situation.
There's also the question of support for the troops on the morale/emotional side . . . like a hot Thanksgiving dinner if at all possible . . . the folks on the sharp end are heartened by the idea that they will not be left behind and that every effort will be made to look after their welfare, especially if they get hurt.
Hair, you have more experience with the schuetzen dogs, could you weigh in?
Are you always a jackass, or is that a part time occupation?
That's where I lost it, right there.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1529723/posts?page=10#10
::sniff, sniff::
Thanks
I guess all of those cards and letters did some good! This is the happy ending I was hoping for.
If that is the case, then I would agree that this would be a good idea. I also wouldn't think that it would take an act of congress to make it happen.
This is much more likely a ploy by a certain PA representative to try and undo some of the damage he did with his constituents when he called for us to withdraw from Iraq.
However, it appears that he can't seem to do anything without putting more of our soldiers in danger.
May the Lord heal her as best He can
Here's a website excerpt from the Military Working Dog school at Lackland AFB.
Most (not all) military working dogs serve long, useful careers. If they are no longer needed by one installation, they are now moved to another.
There is no limit to the number of times a MWD can change bases or handlers! In this way, most dogs can serve a long useful life!
There was a time, that once a dog was accepted for military duty and trained, it would not be returned to a civilian environment...but that changed on November 9, 2000, when President Clinton signed Congressional Bill HR-5314 into law.
Congressional Bill HR-5314 allows the option of retired military working dogs being adopted, by their former handlers, or any individual, who has comparable experience or by law enforce- ment agencies.
With the new law, the U.S. Department of Defense can change its policy forbidding the adoption of these dogs due to the possible danger they pose to the public. The law resolves this concern with its "Hold Harmless Agreement," which releases the United States from any liability for a retired military dog's actions once the dog is transferred to a new guardian.
To be eligible, the dog's current Base Commander and Vet would have to approve the dogs suitability for adoption.
Those dogs who are unable to perform active duty, and are not eligible for adoption, would still be sent back to the Lackland 341st Dog Training School, and use in the training of new dog handlers; or for MWD demonstrations.
While the law allows for the adoption of the dogs as an option, it is still not a requirement for the DOD. However, the DOD will be responsible for keeping an annual, detailed record of each dog that is adopted or euthanized, including case by case information about why a dog was either adopted or selected to be euthanized.
Same on your local police force too. Typically, these dogs are intensely trained to bond with a specific individual and do only what that individual tells them. They don't raise their paw and take an oath to the constitution like two legged soldiers. Trying to reform that bond with another individual is problematic at best.
No more than we can force them to include a little accuracy in their stories.
Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.
LOL - but at least then we wouldn't have to puzzle what the sentance means before spotting all the obvious bias/selective reporting/denial of reality.....
For what it's worth, regarding adult, titled Schutzhund dogs:
http://www.kraftwerkk9.com/dogs_available.php
There are 6 titled adult shepherds offered for sale on this website, with the quote, "Trained dogs have a significantly higher value than puppies. They are a wonderful asset to people who are not able to put in the time necessary to train a dog or raise a puppy. Hundreds of training hours are needed before a dog can pass the stringent requirements of a training degree. Prices for dogs offered on this page begin at $7000."
I like this decision, the $18,000 is nothing compared to the money Congress wastes daily and this is comforting to a wounded soldier and to the dog.
What a great story.
Semper Fi'
jarheadFromFlorida
The dog was permanently assigned to her due to her MOS and would have returned to the states with her as it had following her Pakistan tour if she would have survived her tour without injury.
The reason this became an issue is because our military still harbors individuals who lack common sense.......
Radar O'Reily may only have been a private but he sure had a knack of getting things done in the most unconventional ways....
"There's also the question of support for the troops on the morale/emotional side . . . like a hot Thanksgiving dinner if at all possible . . . the folks on the sharp end are heartened by the idea that they will not be left behind and that every effort will be made to look after their welfare, especially if they get hurt."
And pulling an IED detecting dog from the combat zone accomplishes this how?
I personally know a police dog who is definitely a one man dog and would take some serious retraining to be re-deployed with another officer.
I also know an Air Force K9 handler (Gulf War I) who retired and his dog had to be euthanized because it couldn't be retrained. (That was before the change in the law that would have allowed him to take the dog home.)
And we don't know how old this dog is, how long his remaining useful life is, or how attached he is to his handler.
So this may well be a fiscally and professionally sound decision, given this dog, its age, its personality, and its state of training. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
It's Schutzhund... ;~D
I was tryin' not to get into this one, I try to not fight ugly ideas until I've had more coffee :~D
The truth is, the dog could work for someone else... Those dogs are professionally trained and then handed off to handlers when they're ready. The dog would indeed adapt and bond, and continue to work with another handler, as would yours if she found her destiny suddenly at the hands of another. They bond strongly, it's true, but will bond again without reservation.
But I don't think that's the point. The point is the morale boost for this soldier. The point is that war is not, and has never been unemotional. It is emotion that brings us to tears at the sight of our fallen and injured. For those that sacrifice much, we have always fallen short in repaying. This time, repaying her, at least in part, for her sacrifice is easy. So we do it.
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