All right fine! Honza Bear is a dog and can’t be our next President……..though I think he would look fantastic in the oval office!

Then how about we nominate Specialized Search Dog Honza “Bear” for the American Humane Society Hero Dog competition?

DONE!

Yep, Honza Bear is going to rock the 2013 Hero Dog competition but he needs your support!

I had lunch with U.S. Army Sergeant John Nolan yesterday and he told me a great story. When he received his bronze star right before redeploying from Afghanistan he ripped it off his own chest and placed it on his military working dog, Specialized Search Dog Honza “Bear”.

He told me that Honza Bear had done all the work, he’s the one that found all those Improvised Explosives…….Honza Bear is the reason John Nolan and many … Read More »

Note: This is part four of the story. You may want to read Part III or skip back to Part I before reading this piece

Once outcast and shunned from the military dog community, U.S. Army Sergeant Daniel Sandoval had gotten a second chance.

He was accepted into Fort Bragg’s dog kennels unconditionally. When his newborn son Carter was born with meconium in his lungs making the baby’s oxygen level very low just weeks before Daniel and Military Working Dog Bony were supposed to attend certification, Daniel was given no choice.

His leadership ordered him to the Neo-Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the hospital to be with his family.

Team certification and his deployment could wait.

But now it was a two months later, Carter was doing well, and his wife Sabrina had a handle on things on the home front.

Well, the truth … Read More »

I happened upon the photo above on Twitter from a kind Canadien chap. This is an absolute heart melting photo!

Thanks for sharing Dave……..his caption was, ”Tracer, Trooper & Trigger … Handler Sergeant J. White, CD”

I simply loved it and had to share!

#

Completely changing gears here, I wanted to let you all know about a new book coming out that I’m very interested in reading entitled, Breaking Iraq – The Ten Mistakes That Broke Iraq.

The book will be released on March 19, the 10th Anniversary of the war in Iraq and was written by Colonel (Retired) Ted Spain and Terry D. Turchie, a former Deputy Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI.

Colonel Spain commanded the 18th Military Police Brigade during the ground war and subsequent occupation of Iraq. I served in this brigade with Colonel Spain. He is … Read More »

This Part VI of John and Honza Bear. If you haven’t already…..you may wish to read Part V or skip back to Part I  prior to reading this one.

U.S. Army Sergeant John Nolan’s eyes were closed. It was 3:00 AM and he should have been sleeping soundly.

But he wasn’t.

The wind was whipping outside. He could feel it against his face as it found its way through the mud and mortar walls hut that had probably once been an Afghan person’s home.

Whether they were dead or in Pakistan, he didn’t know. All he knew was they were long gone, and he was at least partially protected from the wind and snow.

That was exactly why he had grown his beard.  It wasn’t the freezing temperatures or snow—rather it was the wind that sent chills through his body. And of course … Read More »

All right, time for the final chapter of Marc and Anax! Take out your kleenex now and get ready.

But first……

In my recent post, Thanking a Veteran, I told you the story of Kim Edelheiser at Orchard Creek Labradors who gifted a wounded veteran with a new Labrador Retriever puppy. I thought someone might like to know that Kim does have one female puppy still available for sale.

If interested you can contact her at the Orchard Creek Labrador Facebook Page.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This is Part VIII of this story. You may wish to skip back to Part I to start reading this dramatic story from the beginning.

Army Specialist Marc Whittaker’s eyes shot open when he heard the vibrating.  He rolled over and felt for his phone on the night stand.

Nothing good ever happens after midnight. That was what his mom had … Read More »

This is part IV of the Danica: A Child of War Series. You may wish to read Part III or skip back to Part I first.

Would the Canadian soldiers accept her?

What if the Taliban captured her?

Would she ever see her son, Stefan, again?

Was she really heading to Afghanistan to find explosives with a dog she had never met?

What the hell was she doing?

They had to take a bus to an isolated section of the Dubai airport to board their plane. Danica Djikov glanced at the seated women and noticed she was the only one standing. The women were a hodgepodge.

Some were fully covered in black burquas and she could see their solemn eyes glancing at the other passengers discreetly.

Others were covered in burquas except for their face.

There were even women wearing western clothing except their … Read More »

“Major Butch,” a therapy dog with the 219th Medical Detachment (Combat Operational Stress Control) concludes her tour interacting with service members in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Field, Feb. 1. The 85th Med. Det. (COSC) from Fort Hood, Texas, assumes the various 219th missions at the transfer of authority ceremony held here today. (DoD photo by Maj. Charles Patterson, Task Force MED-A Public Affairs/Released)

The videos below are quite different. One is about an explosive detector dog who is charged to sniff out the explosives and keep our Soldiers alive.

The military has different methods to search out and destroy IEDs before they injure our troops on the ground. Army Sergeant David Birchfield tells us about one group who find IEDs by sniffing for them.

The other video depicts a mission just as important. Major Butch’s mission is to provide relief from the stresses … Read More »

August 9th dawned scalding and dry across the Marjeh district of Helmand province, Afghanistan. In the blocks, a fertile swath of land watered by a canal network stretching dozens of square kilometers, farmers roused their mules early in order to complete ploughing before their relatives came visiting for Ramadan. A convoy of marines, accompanied by Afghan Local Police, rattled down a dusty strip between fields known as Panther road.

Corporal David Cluver and his black lab, Archie, sat in the back of one the humming tan personnel carriers that rumbled through the western blocks that morning. They were on their way to set up a vehicle checkpoint, to count cars and see how many travelers would be passing through the region during the Muslim holy month. Archie, three and a half years old, bore the uncomfortably nested acronym-title of … Read More »

A couple weeks I posted t……. Military Working Dogs Have Their Day in DC! The Canine Members of the Armed Forces Act passed the Senate by a unanimous vote this on December 5, 2012. The act had already passed the House on May 18, 2012 with a vote of 299 to 120. There is one more step to climb before this act becomes law. The President must sign the act into law.  

So here is a timely example, Military Working Dog Hexa, who served her country and in return asked for two things (I know the author of this story says one (tennis balls) but he missed one essential…… love!). This country is forever indebted to Hexa for the lives she saved in Iraq with her nose and instincts.

This act will provide veterinarian services to her adopted dad, … Read More »