Today I had the honor of interviewing Sgt. Allen Hill for my radio show, Pets In the City on Pet Life Radio. If you haven't done so already, please visit the Pet Life Radio site now, click on my show, "Pets In the City" and subscribe to it. It's so easy and you can download it right to your iPod.
Sounds bites and small video clips about the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan filter into the airwaves and onto the Web everyday. But they don’t really convey the physical and psychological demands U.S. soldiers endure on a daily basis while serving in one of the most politically and culturally complex wars of our time. Often, these soldiers come back both physically and mentally scarred when they return home. Sergeant Allen Hill, an Iraqi war veteran is one example.
Upon returning home, Sgt. Hill continued to suffer the devestating effects of a major brain injury sustained during his service in Iraq, including lingering stress, depression, nightmares, and anxiety. His therapy dog, Frankie, was trained by an inmate serving time for manslaughter at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, just a commuter train ride north of New York City. I spoke with Sgt. Hill and Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who founded the “Puppies Behind Bars” program to train guide dogs over a decade ago, and whose group recently added the “Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who’ve Served Us” program. All three appeared on a recent episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, joined by actress Glenn Close, in a show devoted to the animals in our lives. In addition to sharing how much Frankie has changed his life, Sgt. Hill gave us his thoughts on how the military views and responds to an increasing number of soldiers suffering from mental rather than physical disability.
Military Dogs, Sometimes Viewed As Surplus, Often Euthanized
Talking with Sgt. Hill got me to thinking about not only therapy dogs who help our returning veterans come back into 'normal' civilian life, but the highly-trained military dogs (scouts, bomb-sniffing, guard duty) who serve alongside their human comrades in war-torn areas of Iraq and Afghanistan. (Put aside, for a second, the current controversy surrounding a handful of misguided military troops who may have used angry dogs and other means of torture against prisoners of war. This is indeed a most important issue deserving of vigilance and justice, but it is not the subject here.)
In the past, most sadly in the Vietnam War, combat military dogs were destroyed, put down, euthanized--anyway you put it--after the war ended or their 'services' were no longer needed. I wondered if this was still the case with the dogs serving in the Iraq/Afghanistan war; are they or will they be euthanized when their time is served?
To answer this question, I asked Vietnam War Veteran Ron Aiello, president of the
United States War Dogs Association, who served as a Marine Scout Dog Handler in Vietnam with his own military dog, 'Stormy.' Groups like his exist for just this purpose--to bring, as his website says, 'every soldier home', including K9s.
Some of these dogs, unfortunately, still 'fall through the cracks' according to Aiello, but groups like his try to find as many adoptive homes for former military dogs as possible. Read "Dexter's Story" for a scenario which occurred less than six months ago at href="http://www.militaryworkingdogadoptions.com/OPERATIONDexterFlies.html.
There is no official tally for the number of military dogs now serving in various Middle East conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and surrounding countries) but Aiello puts the number at about 700 to 800.
Why do some military dogs, after serving their country in various capacities, still end up euthanized when there is no longer any need for their services?
"There was a problem with the system that no one saw until recently," Aiello says. Before deployment, most military dogs are trained at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. After they are deployed, whether it be in areas of active conflict or at US military bases in Germany, Italy, Korea or other allies, Aiello and others assumed the dogs were shipped back to Lackland where they would be officially retired from duty and then available for adoption. "We were wrong," he says.
Instead of shipping the dogs back to their home based in Lackland, dogs were typically retired in the country they were based. If they are not adopted in the country in which they were retired it is highly likely they will be destroyed. Additionally, the U.S. military will not pay for the transport of an animal back to the United States, even if their is a willing adopter. Organizations like Aiellos raise money to help cover the cost of bringing them home.
I also asked Aiello if there was another factor contributing to the euthanization of military animals; could it be that they just simply weren't safe to place with a 'civilian' family environment after having been trained for combat?
"We hooked up with Save A Vet because this organizations Is run by dog handlers who will take any of these military K9's that are more aggressive and will retrain these K9's.They are Military or just recently discharge military handlers who can take care of the more aggressive K9. Most everyone that I have been in contact with (civilians) who have adopted these wonderful K9's . Love them to death. One lady told me that she opened the door to her home and the K9 went in an plopped onto the couch like he had live His whole life there. Another one adopted a K9 3 years ago and the K9 just recently passed away. He apply again and now has aSecond adopted K9.
I hope you'll listen to the next episode of Pets In the City on Pet Life Radio and my interview with Sgt. Hill and Gloria Gilbert Stoga of Puppies Behind Bars. And visit the Puppies Behind Bars and the Military Working Dog Adoptions website, too.
Sounds bites and small video clips about the ongoing war in Iraq and Afghanistan filter into the airwaves and onto the Web everyday. But they don’t really convey the physical and psychological demands U.S. soldiers endure on a daily basis while serving in one of the most politically and culturally complex wars of our time. Often, these soldiers come back both physically and mentally scarred when they return home. Sergeant Allen Hill, an Iraqi war veteran is one example.
Upon returning home, Sgt. Hill continued to suffer the devestating effects of a major brain injury sustained during his service in Iraq, including lingering stress, depression, nightmares, and anxiety. His therapy dog, Frankie, was trained by an inmate serving time for manslaughter at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York, just a commuter train ride north of New York City. I spoke with Sgt. Hill and Gloria Gilbert Stoga, who founded the “Puppies Behind Bars” program to train guide dogs over a decade ago, and whose group recently added the “Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who’ve Served Us” program. All three appeared on a recent episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, joined by actress Glenn Close, in a show devoted to the animals in our lives. In addition to sharing how much Frankie has changed his life, Sgt. Hill gave us his thoughts on how the military views and responds to an increasing number of soldiers suffering from mental rather than physical disability.
Military Dogs, Sometimes Viewed As Surplus, Often Euthanized
Talking with Sgt. Hill got me to thinking about not only therapy dogs who help our returning veterans come back into 'normal' civilian life, but the highly-trained military dogs (scouts, bomb-sniffing, guard duty) who serve alongside their human comrades in war-torn areas of Iraq and Afghanistan. (Put aside, for a second, the current controversy surrounding a handful of misguided military troops who may have used angry dogs and other means of torture against prisoners of war. This is indeed a most important issue deserving of vigilance and justice, but it is not the subject here.)
In the past, most sadly in the Vietnam War, combat military dogs were destroyed, put down, euthanized--anyway you put it--after the war ended or their 'services' were no longer needed. I wondered if this was still the case with the dogs serving in the Iraq/Afghanistan war; are they or will they be euthanized when their time is served?
To answer this question, I asked Vietnam War Veteran Ron Aiello, president of the
United States War Dogs Association, who served as a Marine Scout Dog Handler in Vietnam with his own military dog, 'Stormy.' Groups like his exist for just this purpose--to bring, as his website says, 'every soldier home', including K9s.
Some of these dogs, unfortunately, still 'fall through the cracks' according to Aiello, but groups like his try to find as many adoptive homes for former military dogs as possible. Read "Dexter's Story" for a scenario which occurred less than six months ago at href="http://www.militaryworkingdogadoptions.com/OPERATIONDexterFlies.html.
There is no official tally for the number of military dogs now serving in various Middle East conflicts (Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and surrounding countries) but Aiello puts the number at about 700 to 800.
Why do some military dogs, after serving their country in various capacities, still end up euthanized when there is no longer any need for their services?
"There was a problem with the system that no one saw until recently," Aiello says. Before deployment, most military dogs are trained at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. After they are deployed, whether it be in areas of active conflict or at US military bases in Germany, Italy, Korea or other allies, Aiello and others assumed the dogs were shipped back to Lackland where they would be officially retired from duty and then available for adoption. "We were wrong," he says.
Instead of shipping the dogs back to their home based in Lackland, dogs were typically retired in the country they were based. If they are not adopted in the country in which they were retired it is highly likely they will be destroyed. Additionally, the U.S. military will not pay for the transport of an animal back to the United States, even if their is a willing adopter. Organizations like Aiellos raise money to help cover the cost of bringing them home.
I also asked Aiello if there was another factor contributing to the euthanization of military animals; could it be that they just simply weren't safe to place with a 'civilian' family environment after having been trained for combat?
"We hooked up with Save A Vet because this organizations Is run by dog handlers who will take any of these military K9's that are more aggressive and will retrain these K9's.They are Military or just recently discharge military handlers who can take care of the more aggressive K9. Most everyone that I have been in contact with (civilians) who have adopted these wonderful K9's . Love them to death. One lady told me that she opened the door to her home and the K9 went in an plopped onto the couch like he had live His whole life there. Another one adopted a K9 3 years ago and the K9 just recently passed away. He apply again and now has aSecond adopted K9.
I hope you'll listen to the next episode of Pets In the City on Pet Life Radio and my interview with Sgt. Hill and Gloria Gilbert Stoga of Puppies Behind Bars. And visit the Puppies Behind Bars and the Military Working Dog Adoptions website, too.
