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Yahoo! News
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It was the first time a working dog was granted retirement to live with the handler’s family, officials said. “Nobody can do anything to replace the void in this family,” said Col. Christian Haliday, commander of the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, where Lee and Lex were assigned.
“We hope Lex can bring a small piece of his spirit and help maintain his memory,” he said. 2nd Lt. Caleb Eames, spokesman for the Albany base, said Lee and Lex were sitting outside at a forward operating base in Karmah when they were hit by shrapnel from a 73mm rocket explosion. “A part of Dustin is in Lex,” said the fallen Marine’s father. “To have Lex at home is a part of having Dustin at home.”
Rachel Lee said she believes her son’s spirit will live on through the dog because of their close bond and because they were together during the final moments of her son’s life. “It was blood on blood,” she said. “We can’t get Dustin back, but we have Lex.”
A very good thing the Army has done here. I think we all should remember the fact that a lot of our men and woman in the military are not spending Christmas with their families again this year and some will not have that chance ever again.
Today’s military, whether from necessity or humanity, does all it can for those who serve. A young friend of mine who was in the Navy had some serious family difficulties concerning his infant son, and the Navy allowed him an honorable discharge. They actually cared.
Now we see the same with the Marines. The dog can never replace the man, but even so it’s something. The Marines have proven they care. These dogs cost a LOT of money, you know, and Lex must be replaced at a noticeable cost. And the Marines have proven they care.
Our military has received a lot of bad press lately, of which most has been undeserved. It’s nice to see a little of the truth and humanity come public.
Well, our Fearful Leaders will milk this for it’s PR value, of course – but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is a totally good and appropriate thing to do…
i hope that dog can bring the family some healing… you can see the pain of their loss in each of their faces.
Oh yeah! Let’s divert the attention of the failing war in Iraq with a puppy!
Stupid sheeple.
It’s completely embarrassing to be an American.
And yeah, that family looks ELATED at being used as props for a war propaganda publicity stunt.
Boy, what an idiotic country.
I would think that the dog suffered wounds that would of made it inoperable in combat. It is nice to see that they send the dog to retire with it’s handlers family. Very touching. Now, how about soldiers who are billed for getting struck by an IED. Having to pay back the re-enlist bonuses because you were wounded in battle. You know, loosing legs and shit escorting empty KBR trucks. Empty KBR trucks get billed the same as full ones. zoom zoom.
Lets not get too jaded people. The family lobbied for months to get the dog. This isn’t exactly a case of the US government thrusting the dog on the family for some PR.
@#1 Ahem.. Marines.. Not Army. 🙂
The Prez pardons turkeys during Thanksgiving, and now drums out a bomb squad dog for Christmas. But humans can’t be spared from service, until Bush’s political goals are achieved. The dog was probably going deaf anyway (explosions can do that ya know). I just wonder if the dog had to sign any papers saying it wouldn’t reveal any government secrets? That’s Scooter Libby’s job.
Can’t help but wonder if this isn’t somewhat dangerous. These dogs are usually not family pet material – I have heard of dogs ( a friend of mine had a family member) who had a dog he brought back and it bit her. Now that this animal doesn’t have a ‘job’ it may develop ‘issues’. May be part of why it took awhile for them to okay this – they may have needed to evaluate him for safety reasons.