F.A.S.T. CO.
A Soldier's Best Friend By Phil McCombs
Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 25, 2000; Page C01
MORE ABOUT ROBBY
"For Robby" Where once a life was his to save It is now our turn to try To give him back some happiness But you will not let us--Why? By the time the legislation passed and the president signed it into law Nov. 6, however, Manthey's wife was pregnant and the young handler realized he couldn't afford the high-dollar medication the dog needed. "Me and Robby were partners so long," he says, "I don't want him getting jealous of the baby or my other dogs." In late October, Robby was shipped back to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where the nation's military dogs are trained at the 341st Training Squadron and where, when their lives in the field are over, they return to help train new handlers. And to die. Lassie in Combat American war dogs like Robby and Tanja--called military working dogs, or MWDs, in peacetime--are the stuff of legend. The 10,425 canines who served in WWII saved countless GIs. They included heroes like Chips, who stood guard at the Roosevelt - Churchill conference at Casablanca and later, in combat in Sicily, broke away from his handler to attack a pillbox and capture an enemy machine-gun crew. In 1990 Disney produced a TV movie called "Chips the War Dog." In 1999, the Discovery Channel's "War Dogs: America's Forgotten Heroes" documented the exploits of the 4,000 dogs who served in Vietnam--leading jungle patrols, spotting ambushes, pulling their handlers to safety. The documentary lamented the fate of hundreds of dogs left behind at the end of the war. "Without Toro," says Vietnam dog handler Carl Dobbins in the documentary, "there's no way I'd have made it back to the United States. I wouldn't have made it probably three months without Toro." Today, America's roughly 1,800 military dogs and their handlers are engaged mostly in military police work--apprehending suspects, searching buildings, securing perimeters. The Quantico dogs and their handlers are also loaned out to the Secret Service, State Department and other federal agencies for bomb and narcotics detection work. When President Clinton visited India last spring, Lambert and Tanja went along, searching vehicles and rooms the president would use to make sure they were bomb free. The dog stayed in the hotel room with me," the handler recalls. "We were on call. We'd play around, throw the ball around. When I'd go for a jog, she'd accompany me. She was my partner. It's a very close bond--like having a very, very close friend you know you can count on." Dogs are currently deployed with U.S. peacekeeping forces in Kosovo--the closest thing we have to a war zone right now--where they work in security, VIP protection, crowd control and bomb detection. Should America go to war, Lambert and other handlers say, their dogs can be quickly trained to lead patrols, spot tripwires, sniff out the enemy at distances of up to 1,000 yards, serve as couriers and perform other assignments under combat conditions. At long last, such steadfast and often heroic service is being recognized, as memorials to America's war dogs spring up across the country. Streamwood, Ill., decided to add one to the town's War Memorial after citizen Jennifer Pfannkuche got the idea from reading a children's book on war dogs. "Dogs have been serving our country in combat for 200 years since the American Revolution, and they've never been acknowledged," said another citizen, Carolyn Pentecost, who mailed 1,000 letters seeking financial support for the Streamwood memorial. At a dedication of another memorial, at March Air Force Base in Riverside, Calif., earlier this year, Putney watched "200 dog handlers from Vietnam, and you could see the tears on their faces--some didn't even get a chance to tell their dog goodbye." Next spring, Simon & Schuster is planning to publish Putney's book, "Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of World War II." During that war, dogs were recruited just like soldiers. They came from among people's house pets, according to the Quartermaster Foundation's Web site, www.qmfound.com. The American Kennel Association and a group called Dogs for Defense mobilized dog owners to donate quality animals to the armed services. Thus, when it was time for the dogs to demobilize, most had homes to go to. This is not true of today's military dogs, who are kept in kennels from puppyhood and work with several handlers over their careers. Today, it's not that simple. Troubling Transitions In the wake of the new law, calls are coming in to Lackland, from military dog handlers and others, wanting to adopt dogs. Spokesman Gary Emery says the 341st Training Squadron is studying how to implement the law "so that we're doing the right thing for the animals and the people that will adopt them." Despite assurances from Bartlett and Putney, the military--including the very handlers who love the dogs--remains concerned about safety. "I don't think you can really deprogram these dogs," says Lambert. "The training might get toned down, but she'll always have it in the back of her mind." "These dogs have a rough transition to their older years," says Sgt. Brice Cavanaugh, Quantico handler of an award-winning Belgian Malinois named Irac. "I'd rather see a dog put down than have the handler take him home and have him bite a small child out of fear and pain." It's not yet clear how many dogs will be available for adoption. The squadron needs to keep about 150 on hand for training purposes. During the past three years, about 200 dogs a year have been euthanized. Our policy is that the only time we euthanize military working dogs is to ease the pain and suffering of an animal with a terminal disease that's untreatable," Emery says. Army Col. Larry Carpenter, 48, the squadron's chief veterinarian who grew up on a farm in South Dakota, admits to loving animals and has two dogs and three cats at home. He says he has never euthanized a military dog "where the dog was not ready to die. They usually have serious medical problems. "We try to make a decision on the quality of life of a dog, and his ability to work. We have 12- and 13-year-old dogs that still have the drive, the heart to work--and work is what they love." In the end, Carpenter says, the death decisions are made the same way they are in a private veterinary practice. "You come to a decision where the dog doesn't have a quality of life that can sustain it, so you end up putting the dog to sleep as an act of kindness." Each corpse is autopsied, for medical research, and then cremated. There's no graveyard at the squadron. Dogs that can be adopted under the new law will be those not needed for training work and still healthy enough to enjoy life. These Carpenter will evaluate and then match with qualified applicants. It will be, he's sure, tricky. "If I look at a dog from a medical standpoint," he says, "I can say that he's likely to bite, but I can't say that a dog won't bite. Some dogs are very aggressive and may not be adoptable just because that's their personality." This is worrisome, he says. In a civilian adoptive setting, "there is a significant danger that the dog could do what it's been trained to do, which is protect and attack. Given a situation where breeds are being banned for aggressive behavior, this is one of the main problems in adopting out these dogs. They don't have to be ordered to attack; they do it without command. Put yourself in the position of having children and living next door to a dog like that." Rep. Bartlett isn't worried, however. "These dogs are not a hazard," he says. Under his law, the military must provide a report on each euthanized dog. "We can have hearings," he says, "and they'll have to get up there and explain why they killed that dog." As for Robby, he is now in a "nice kennel" at Lackland, Emery says, adding he is receiving top-quality medical care and is being evaluated for use as a training dog. Semper Fi In another war dog book that came out last year, "K-9 Soldiers: Vietnam and After" (Hellgate Press, $13.95), author and Vietnam veteran Paul B. Morgan described the courageous exploits of his German shepherd, Suzie. They walked point together through the jungle, made parachute jumps, saved downed chopper crews. Morgan had acquired Suzie not from the Army but from a priest, Father Tu, in exchange for a pistol and silver rosary beads. "God protects dogs from the knowledge of death," Father Tu had observed, "so they will be brave and serve their fellow man. "Because of the unconditional love, devotion, humility and honesty, all dogs are rewarded in the afterlife with the equivalent of Heaven." Follow Up BELOW |
June 1, 2003, WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Iraqi-born dog who became a U.S. Army unit's best friend during fighting in Iraq will arrive in his adopted country in days, according to Pentagon officials. "Fluffy," the hungry and abused German shepherd who became a U.S. comrade, is expected to be flown from Iraq to Germany and arrive Saturday night at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. U.S. Army officials will pick up the canine and drive him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he will be reunited with his likely new owner and former handler. "As his handler, I grew attached to him," Sgt. Russell Joyce told the Army News Service. "But the reason I really wanted to see him in the States was because he supported us the whole time we were in Iraq." Fluffy's long journey began when a U.S. Army Special Forces team trained him in canine force protection. The 12-man team used him as its guard dog. "We purchased him from the Kurds to perform military operations, but the officer in charge of loading said that since he didn't originate in the States ... he was not authorized to travel to the United States," Joyce told the Army News Service. When the unit concluded its work in Iraq and returned to Fort Bragg, Fluffy was left behind -- not allowed to return with the team because of military policies preventing unauthorized "items" returning to the United States. Fluffy's fate was uncertain for a while and Joyce was told the dog could be kept by military personnel in Iraq, but only for a limited time, a Pentagon official said. After the serviceman returned home May 11, Joyce sent e-mails about the fate of the dog and Fluffy's story was told on a Web site dedicated to dogs who have fought in wars. Public opinion may have helped move the military to subsequently approve the guard dog's trip stateside. Because there is no requirement for a dog in a Special Forces unit, the dog will be deemed "military surplus" and offered up for adoption, an official at Fort Bragg said. Fluffy is technically U.S. government property because he was trained by military personnel. Once paperwork is complete, he will be officially up for adoption. A LAW PASSED BY CONGRESS IN NOVEMBER 2000 ALLOWS RETIRED MILITARY WORKING DOGS TO BE ADOPTED BY THEIR HANDLERS OR BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. (Thank You, Robbie!) Joyce is the first in line to adopt and, officials at Fort Bragg say he will take the newly retired veteran home to be his personal pet.
MORE ABOUT FLUFFY Sure you may use pics and his name for this. Thank you that is very kind of you to ask. My rank is written like this SFC stands for "Sergeant First Class." Could you also add the <A HREF="http://www.atnow.net/uswardogs.org/index.php?page=page104">United States War Dogs Association</A> at uswardogs.org and <A HREF="http://dposs.com/k9/index.htm">Viet Nam Security Police Association K-9 Memorial</A> . These guys have the story as well and many others! other organization who have great stories about the war dogs are <A HREF="http://scwda.org/">Space Coast War Dog Association (SCWDA)</A> . If you could find a way to add these guys it would mean a lot to me and fluffy. These are the men and women who mad it posable for fluffy to make it home. thank you, Russell and Fluffy |