come on come on there you go okay good
alright just how to get him settled
close your eyes go ahead no one’s gonna
hurt you now imagine that you and your
partner are United States Marines
deployed to Iraq you both just got back
safe inside base camp
after a foot patrol searching for IEDs
or improvised explosive devices you’re
hot sweaty covered in a layer of dust
and are dreaming of a cool shower and a
soft bed your partner’s a few yards
behind you you turn back in your eyes
lock you can almost read his mind that
he’s saying you’d done good kid you go
back to walking towards your room as
your body is thrown to the ground you
can feel pieces of shrapnel hitting and
puncturing your skin you try to get up
but you can’t and after the dust settles
you realize that you and your partner
were hit by indirect fire from an RPG
a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded
inside base camp you’re bruised and
bloodied and when you can’t catch a
partner to respond with calls you crawl
over to him and use your small body to
protect him please open your eyes
this was the sad reality from Marine
corporal Dustin Lee and his military
working dog Lex Lex was the one that
crawled over and used his small body to
protect Dustin tragically Dustin was
mortally wounded Lex would survive and
go on to endure 12 weeks of rehab back
stateside ultimately Dustin’s family
successfully petitioned to have Lex
retired and adopted with the help of
congressman Jones of North Carolina
Lex’s adoption marked a huge milestone
he was the first dog of working capacity
to be retired
early and adopted out to the fallen
military members family the importance
of military working dogs cannot and must
not be overlooked they go beyond to make
sure our military members and our nation
are safe and all for a pat on the head
or a belly rub military working dogs are
trained at the Holland dog Center
located on Lackland Air Force Base in
San Antonio Texas they endure extreme
amounts of training to make sure they’re
not only ready physically but also
mentally making sure they aren’t gun shy
can take down an assailant and detect
narcotics or explosives military working
dogs are part of the reason why we enjoy
the freedoms we have today they are
trained to be the first one in a
building to clear it they put their
lives on the line when going into war
they risk being shot or stabbed well in
a foot patrol and all again for the love
of their partner military working dogs
don’t have a choice to re-enlist they
are used by the military typically until
there’s a medical reason that prevents
them from doing their job as humans who
are being protected by these brave
four-legged heroes by whatever means we
were able we should honor them in
retirement and show them our gratitude
as they have honoured us with their
service now by a show of hands who’s a
dog owner in here
come on raise them up awesome I’m
awesome a dog owner and would like to
introduce you to my personal hero
sergeant Rambo thank you
Rambo served in the Marines as an
explosive detection patrol certified
military working dog for about 16 months
until he was medically retired due to a
severe shoulder injury now being patrol
certified means that the dog is able to
attack and take down an assailant giving
a specific situation and command well
one day when Rambo was doing routine
proficiency work to keep up that patrol
certification
he ended up severely injuring his
shoulder on the by trap a small piece of
bone chipped off in his shoulder and
this bone fragment was floating around
from
it’s causing Rambo continuous pain and
irreversible damage to that joint I was
able to adopt a rainbow at the young age
of four and after I adopted him I saw
that the daily pain medications he was
on was not were not managing his pain
management and the pain medications had
a high chance of causing early kidney
failure which unfortunately is what my
first military working dog gizmo died
from per the advice some Rambo’s regular
veterinarian a board-certified
veterinarian surgeon they both agreed
that for Rambo to live a pain-free life
and not risk early onset of kidney
failure amputations at the shoulder was
necessary
now Rambo is by far more active now than
he was with the forelegs but because
military working dogs don’t receive
medical benefits not every dog has
access to the same quality of care and
that is the fact that has led me to this
most amazing journey I was in the Army
as a vet tech from 2001 to 2005 taking
care of our nation’s military working
dogs gizmo was my first medical
emergency and he needed round-the-clock
care over a four-day holiday weekend due
to his kidney failure now I love animals
but I was never a dog person until gizmo
and little did I know the impact of that
sweet working dog in that one weekend
would have in my life so when I got the
call that gizmo was retired and I could
adopt him I was through the moon excited
however reality soon set in I realized I
could not afford his extensive vet care
on my single military income and I had
to get a second job so during this
transition of adopting gizmo I was also
getting a medical discharge due to a
severe knee injury I didn’t understand
why I was receiving benefits from my
nearly five short years of service and
gizmo was receiving none for his nearly
nine long years it was at this time I
realized that military working dogs were
considered a piece of equipment yes
equipment equipment doesn’t bleed
equipment can’t feel pain equipment
cannot love and equipment cannot give
one’s life up for our freedoms
I also learned of a startling fact in
Vietnam it is estimated that there was
over 4,000 dogs that deployed but only a
few hundred made at home because of that
classification as equipment
these brave dogs were left to die in
Vietnam all alone because there are
surplus equipment that the government no
longer had any use for thankfully that
is not the case now all military working
dogs after her deployment returned with
their handler back to their normal
duties station so when the time came and
I had to put gizmo to sleep I made him a
promise I promised to reclassify them
and to make an impact in future lives of
all military working dogs well many
years later and I’m enrolled at
northeast Lakeview college and here’s
one of my winks from God for whatever
reason my prior English credit didn’t
transfer and how to retake the course so
my English teacher mrs. risky decided to
have us write our first English essay on
whatever we were passionate about so I’m
sure you can guess I chose military
working dogs and why they should receive
benefits well when she handed me the
grade 2 paper back she suggested I send
it to Congress that suggestion was the
push I needed to keep my promise to
gizmo and I soon realized that helping
our nation’s four-legged heroes was my
why was the reason that God created me
for eventually with the help of Rachel
Lee Dustin’s mom we were able to recruit
her now longtime friend congressman
Jones to bring forth legislation based
off of that essay the canine members of
the Armed Forces Act was drafted and
shortly thereafter we recruited my prior
state senator from Connecticut Senator
Richard Blumenthal the legislation
received bipartisan bicameral support it
was passed and signed into law in
January 2013 so this means both the
house
so this means both the House and Senate
Democrats and Republicans all agreed on
something yes well we’re still making
changes to it as an edited version
passed military working dogs were only
reclassified in 2014 and most recently
when a military working dog retires
overseas and can’t find a suitable home
there they’ll be flown back to Lapland
to be adopted out unfortunately the
government still does not offer medical
care to these retired dogs and that is
why I established gizmos gift a
nonprofit named in honor of my sweet
baby boy gizmo gizmos gift offers free
medical care to any active-duty a
retired working dog and also a free ride
home so Rambo and I now travel locally
and nationally educating the public on
the value of military working dogs and
the great mission of gizmos gift we
currently support post 240 active duty
and retired working dogs from all walks
of law enforcement life this journey has
allowed me to use my innate compassion
for animals a need that wasn’t being met
and to turn my passion into reality and
through the journey I have often thought
of dr. Seuss’s character The Lorax you
once said unless someone like you cares
a whole awful lot nothing is gonna get
better it’s not so I ask each of you
here today or watching this week’s or
maybe even years later what is your
passion what is your why what did God
place in you that makes you uniquely you
when you find that you’ll find a way to
make the world a little bit better than
it was before thank you [Applause]