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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A story worth telling - by Bruce


This is a photo of Bozwell our German Shepherd who is a hero to me. But keep reading and you will hear about a real hero.




I had a call from an applicant that I approved a month or so ago and he wanted to share a story with me. He had applied to adopt a German Shepherd and I had processed his application. He wanted to tell me about his friend in Washington State who heard about how the USAF was retiring IED dogs from Afghanistan after they had served 4 years. He checked into it and sure enough they are adopted from Kelly AFB in Texas. He applied and sure enough he got a dog so he went to Texas to meet the dog and fulfill the adoption requirements for this particular German Shepherd. They told him they would fly the dog up to Washington and notify him when it would arrive. He finally went to pick up the dog and there was a full color guard waiting for the dog to arrive. The dog got the full benefits of a color guard probably with band playing. Turns out this dog is a bona fide hero who had saved over 200+ troops. Not just doing his job finding IED's but actually saving troops. He got the complete retirement package of color guard and pomp. His friend was pretty surprised to find out the dog he adopted was a real hero, and all the pageantry only the military can provide was there to say good bye and happy retirement.
I'm sure you won't see or hear about this in any of the newspapers or media but a genuine hero is a hero whether it be a two legged or four legged kind. Brings a tear to my eye knowing that our soldiers have that much respect for a modern day hero. Reminds me of the time I was leaving chow hall and the officers and men in front of me were saluting an Airman third class, bottom of the ranks. As I got closer he got my salute too as he was wearing his Metal of Honor. You don't get those for just doing your duty and this German Shepherd didn't get a full color guard ceremony for being an ordinary dog. SALUTE!!!!!

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Wonderful story Bruce! A hero comes in all sizes and packages!

Ron and Thelma said...

What a great story. Your right never made the papers.