Seems this situation in the military working dog world continues to stir the pot. Here's some more to do with the situation: http://www.bradfordera.com/site/tab2.cfm?newsid=15902754&BRD=2725&PAG=461&dept_id=562849&rfi=6

I don't defend TSgt Dana nor do I defend those acting against her getting the dog (which is already a done deal). What I don't condone is personal attacks (and by that I mean emailing or snail mailing that person). I myself received a very negative email from TSgt Dana when I made my opinion of the situation on various dog forums. Over a few follow-up emails things calmed down and a few points became clear. She didn't initiate the process of getting to keep the dog. However, the bill passed and now the precedent has been set. It's will be hard to say what will happen but I hope enough safe guards will be made to ensure the mission is not impacted. I have yet to see any changes to the way we work here at the DoD Dog Center in regards to this new addition to the Adoption Law.

During WWII a campaign was started by a school girl to buy the Navy a Destroyer to replace the one that was lost in action, she started collecting dimes from other school kids and it went nation wide. they actualy got enough money to "buy" one for the Navy. I Suggest we do the same. Who knows where we can get a DP bomb dog from? I'm good for twenty

Well, the paper mentioned Chris and I and used private emails between Dana and I ( and she was the one that initiated the emails ) - of course all her nasty remarks and rudeness were left out by the paper in their attempt to cheer on the hometown favorite.

I've received about nine emails from angry folks regarding that article, but when I show them everything that was left out from that article I've received an apology from 75% of the folks who saw that the article was biased, so that's ok by me.

It's still ultimately about Soldier's coming home - that dog could easily replace a state side dog for duty and allow another dog to get into the conflict, but instead it's become a stupid PC/ PR event that has the potential to cost people their lives.
And the overt favoritism shown to Dana is poison to Military discipline and unit morale - this decision will hurt the Military for years to come in ways that all the politician's and Media will never be able to see due to their lack of knowing how the Military works.
How sad that there are so many people willing to trade a Soldier's life for a PR stunt.

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She didn't initiate the process of getting to keep the dog.

Joel, I'm sorry man, nothing at all meant towards you or your opinion, but thats bull***t, I know for a fact she did, I can't say how or this person will be in mounds of trouble, but trust me or trust me not, but she did. She made a formal request to the Airforce and it was denied, she is trying to say that she didn't goto the media first but they came to her, well I just don't buy that for many reasons. I'v spoken with many folks she worked with, were deployed with, and her instructors from Lackland. BTW, I'v been contacted by CNN but I refuse to submit two words to a left wing news organization. As long as she has that dog, without letting him be evaluated for further duty, whether it is signed or not I'm going to keep up raising public awareness about the other side of the coin to make sure this doesn't happen again atleast, but hopefully if she wants peace she'll do what's right and give Rex back to the people that he serves.

I emailed her once and it was a very nice and tactful email, thanking her for her likewise service and all, and just letting her know nicely why I feel this is a bad idea, and suggested her letting Rex be evaluated by 3 trainers at lackland and if 2 of them say Rex is unfit for Explosive detection duty then By all means please take him so he can live a good life, but if he is fit, then to let him continue to try his best to save soldiers from experiencing what she has been through. Well, I have never gotten a response from her on my one email I sent her. Notice in the article she only talks about Rex not wanting to bite anyone, well I found out that Rex is a single purpose ED dog. The airforce has single purpose dogs, not the Army or Marines (ours have to be dual purpose). Yet she makes no mention of that he can't do what he was trained to do, find explosives, Hmmmmmm, sounds like she was trying to manipulate the public into thinking the dog was useless now just because he wouldn't bite. Furthermore, even if he was trained to bite, and wouldn't, what does that have to do with him finding that next IED, or finding the hidden IED factory under a living room floor or whatever.

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I emailed her once and it was a very nice and tactful email, thanking her for her likewise service and all, and just letting her know nicely why I feel this is a bad idea, and suggested her letting Rex be evaluated by 3 trainers at lackland and if 2 of them say Rex is unfit for Explosive detection duty then By all means please take him so he can live a good life, but if he is fit, then to let him continue to try his best to save soldiers from experiencing what she has been through. Well, I have never gotten a response from her on my one email I sent her. Notice in the article she only talks about Rex not wanting to bite anyone, well I found out that Rex is a single purpose ED dog. The airforce has single purpose dogs, not the Army or Marines (ours have to be dual purpose). Yet she makes no mention of that he can't do what he was trained to do, find explosives, Hmmmmmm, sounds like she was trying to manipulate the public into thinking the dog was useless now just because he wouldn't bite. Furthermore, even if he was trained to bite, and wouldn't, what does that have to do with him finding that next IED, or finding the hidden IED factory under a living room floor or whatever.

Please understand I'm not defending anyone is this situation. My opinion is strictly about giving a useful dog away and with the email quote I was just bringing that possible explanation in regards to the origin of this situation to light. If it's correct or not I have no idea. However, Rex was shipped from Lackland AFB as a patrol/explosives dog. I've read his training record as well as just verified it in our database. If this dog was decertified Patrol in the field, Peterson failed to notify Logistics. The other factor I'm curious about is so far, to my knowledge, no portion of the K9 Adoption bill in regards to evaluating Rex has been accomplished. The new addition stated nothing about giving the dog away untested in the bite muzzle test. The MWD was signed out on a Temporary Issue Receipt so as to go to her hometown while she was recovering. To my knowledge he hasn't been declared excess (but again I don't attend the monthly meetings dealing with this process anymore). As I mentioned before, this sets a bad precedent. I also know from experience that handlers will say just about anything in regards to K9 behavior if they have a chance to adopt a dog. The always classic "he not aggressive around any of us at the kennels" is pretty common. That's why there's testing involved prior to releasing this dog into public domain on a permanent basis...

With two of my best friends (and co-workers) currently in Iraq.... one of which has lost two soldiers under his command to IED's in Ramadi, GOOD JOB CHRIS AND WILL!!!

I'm with Chris and Will on this. It was definatly a windmill worth taking a poke at. Any thoughts on my suggestion?

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I'm with Chris and Will on this. It was definatly a windmill worth taking a poke at. Any thoughts on my suggestion?

Your suggestion:

It would be very cool, I think, to raise funds to provide a bomb dog. Couldn't it be a positive way to make a statement of support to service people..........with no comments, no political agenda..........just kind of a statement of providing for instead of taking from?

First, the DoD won't buy or accept a dog without testing it.
We have a consignment process that all procured dogs go through whether they are from stateside vendors or European vendors. IF the dog is accepted he will still go through our training course to be trained to DoD standards. There is no way you can buy a dog and give it to a base to be used as a MWD.