Wounded Sergeant Wants to Keep Military Dog
Nov. 27, 2005 — -- Last June, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana and her bomb-sniffing German shepherd, Rex, were on a mission in Iraq, searching for explosive materials. When they were finished, they got into a Humvee to head back to base.
That's when the bomb went off.
There was a large improvised explosive device, commonly called an IED, right below Dana's seat. The blast mangled the vehicle. Dana suffered internal injuries and multiple fractured or crushed bones. Medics thought the 26-year-old woman would die.
As she lapsed into unconsciousness, she had one thought.
"Where's Rex? Where's my dog?" she recalled thinking. "Is my dog okay? Is Rex okay? Nobody would answer me.
"So I grabbed a medic's arm," she added, "and I asked, 'Is my dog dead?' And they told me, 'Yes.' And that broke my heart. It was the worst feeling I could imagine."
Dana awoke from her a coma after a month and eventually was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. When she regained consciousness, she was told the good news: Rex had survived.
"Once they told me he was alive, that's when I wanted to see him," she told ABC News' "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."
It was an emotional reunion between Dana and the dog with which she went on three-years-worth of dangerous missions in Iraq and Pakistan.
"It was just great," she said. "Just to see him and touch him and know he was alive. It was wonderful."
When Dana went to her father's home in Pennsylvania to recuperate, the Air Force let Rex go with her.
"He's so awesome because he's so friendly," Dana said. "He's so happy. He loves people. He loves life. He's just awesome."
But when Dana asked if she could officially adopt Rex, the military said no.
In a letter, an Air Force official said letting Dana have Rex "would not be a legal or advisable use of Air Force assets despite the sentimental value and potential healing effects it might produce."
Top Air Force officials later relented, but they insisted there is nothing they can do to make it happen. That's because Title 10 U.S. Code 2583 forbids giving away a trained military dog while it's still useful.
Rex is five years old and still has at least five good years of service left in him. Dana, who is still convalescing at her family's home, said she understands the mission comes first. But she said she would give anything to keep her beloved dog.
It will take an act of Congress to allow Rex to stay with Dana. A bipartisan effort is underway in the House to attach a provision onto a defense appropriations bill permitting Rex's adoption.
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