# Retired Military Working Dogs



## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

Military.com Legislative Center


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## Alyalanna (May 28, 2011)

GSDBESTK9 said:


> Military.com Legislative Center


I understand that they are trying to protect themselves from the expense of paying for commercial air for a dog to be returned to the US. But why is it that they can't just stipulate that the dogs must be returned on a military transport? They can even put clauses in there about if all the military transports are full for blah, blah, blah then it will blah, blah, blah. 

Oh the joys of working for the military.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I wonder if they slaughtered or sold all the horses they took overseas in earlier wars. 

I heard that the dogs used in Vietnam were mostly killed, as they did not want to pay to ship them back and they were worried about how they would adjust, whether they would be liable if the dog attacked. 

Someday humans will realize that it simply isn't right to treat a living, breathing creature, like a piece of scrap metal.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> I heard that the dogs used in Vietnam were mostly killed, as they did not want to pay to ship them back and they were worried about how they would adjust, whether they would be liable if the dog attacked.


Incorrect.

The reason the majority of the dogs were left in Asia during Vietnam was due to worries that the dogs would return with parasites that were not native to North America. The dogs were either euthanized, or turned over to the South Vietnamese, or shipped to other bases in Asia, such as Korea and Japan. (I recently talked with a former kennelmaster who was stationed in Korea and he got quite a few of those dogs for the rest of their careers.)

Also, the dogs that are overseas are just a small portion of military working dogs available for adoption. Most of them are adopted out of Lackland AFB or through your local base. In any case you'd have to pay to go there and go through the adoption process and ship your dog home. They figure that the average cost to adopt a dog from Lackland is about $1,000 to $2,000 once you figure in the travel costs and everything.

I don't know why they don't ship them back stateside - shouldn't be an issue. If they ship them out with everyone and their equipment, they can ship them back. There's no need to retire them OCONUS - bring them back and then retire them officially once they're back CONUS. Simple as that.

And yes, they definitely need a medal specific for MWDs. In WWII, they would award dogs with regular military medals until people got upset about it because "it cheapened the award" for the human Soldiers who were awarded. So they stopped doing it. The Brits have the Dickin Medal - Dickin Medal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - don't know why we can't just have something similar.


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## DharmasMom (Jul 4, 2010)

I have already written my Senators in reference to this issue. I got back a joke of an email that basically said "Thank you for your interest in MWDs. We have a program in which retired MWDs can be adopted. Blah, blah, blah" I wondered if he even BOTHERED to read my friggin letter!!

It id DISGRACEFUL that we don't bring those dogs home for retirement. Those dogs save our soldiers lives daily and deserve much more than they are getting from the military.


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## r1200mike (Jan 18, 2010)

*What a crock !*

I flew from Baghdad to Kuwait with a Black shepherd(stationed at Key West NAS) Great companion for the flight. It is not like it costs alot of money to fly a pup back from the Middle east. Wast fraud and abuse what a joke ! If you want to see WFA I have some pictures for you to see. Such idiots !!!!


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## dazedtrucker (May 2, 2011)

r1200mike said:


> I flew from Baghdad to Kuwait with a Black shepherd(stationed at Key West NAS) Great companion for the flight. It is not like it costs alot of money to fly a pup back from the Middle east. Wast fraud and abuse what a joke ! If you want to see WFA I have some pictures for you to see. Such idiots !!!!


Idiots love pictures!  Bring 'em on, I'm bored....


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Perrier finds a way to ship *bottled water* from France and still make money... 

Just sayin'...


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## dazedtrucker (May 2, 2011)

Awww man. Still no pictures, and I gotta go to work. Disappointing.


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## danbibby (May 22, 2011)

> heard that the dogs used in Vietnam were mostly killed


I think what was done to our MWD's in Vietnam was one of the worst black marks ever done by our military. I knew a handler who never got over not being able to take his dog out with him.



How about a MWD statue at the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.? Perhaps that's long overdue.


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> How about a MWD statue at the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.? Perhaps that's long overdue.


They're actually working on a National MWD Monument. Here --> Military Working Dog Teams National Monument to learn more and see what you can do to help make it happen.


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