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Veterans Day: one soldier's tail
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Sgt. 1st Class Russell Joyce and Fluffy.
U.S. military dogs have served our country since World War I. The program began with a handful of dogs and peaked during the Viet Nam War. The official list contains the names of 3,747 military K-9s but, there are estimates that 4,900 dogs actually served. The statistics breakdown as follows: 65% of the K-9s served in the Army, 26% Air Force, 7% Marines and 2% Navy. The majority of these dogs were not allowed to return home to the United States.
Today, war dogs are being used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan and although the military has made concessions about allowing them to return home, most of their futures are uncertain. To honor their dedication and sacrifice, the men who served as handlers for these four-legged soldiers established the U.S. War Dog Association. In observance of Veterans Day, here is one of the handler’s stories about his K-9 soldier.
Sgt. 1st Class Russell Joyce is a career soldier in Special Forces. During his first tour in Iraq he was put in charge of finding a local dog for sentry and guard duties for his unit. He wasn’t particularly happy with this task, but dutifully fulfilled the goal.
He asked around and the Iraqi military brought him a dog they had been trying to train.
It was a skinny and frightened German Shepherd dog who had been mistreated. The young dog had scares on his face and front legs from beatings and coward away when Sgt. Joyce tried to talk to him. The Iraqi’s called him, Terror.
The first night with his new unit, Terror hid and refused to make a sound. Sgt. Joyce’s superiors were disappointed and wanted to return the dog. They didn’t see much hope in having a guard dog that wouldn’t bark, but the sergeant asked for more time.
Then one night a group of local dogs came by the unit looking for food and Terror barked. Unfortunately, he barked and didn’t stop until morning. This time the entire unit wanted Terror to leave. Once again Sgt. Joyce protested.
Terror and Sgt. Joyce worked side by side for the next two weeks and much to everyone’s surprise the German Shepherd learned all of the commands and was on his way to becoming a great guard dog.
At this point, Sgt. Joyce decided the name Terror did not fit this young dog and he began calling him Lucky, but the dog didn’t respond. Then teasing he called the big pup Fluffy. The dog stopped, ran over to Sgt. Joyce looked him right in the eye. From that day on, Fluffy the guard dog proudly served his unit.
For the entire tour of duty Fluffy traveled with his unit on missions and when they relocated. He even lived through two shootings. He served his unit as a loyal soldier and Sgt. Joyce felt a special bond with him.
Four weeks before the sergeant was to return home, he began getting Fluffy reclassified as an official military dog, rather than the unit’s mascot. He wanted Fluffy to come home with him.
The paperwork seemed to be endless and when it was time to ship out, Fluffy had not been reclassified. Joyce left the pup with a K-9 unit until he could figure out what to do.
Once he was home, the sergant began a letter writing campaign to government officials. This caught the attention of many dog handlers from the Viet Nam War as well as animal rescue groups and parents whose sons and daughters were currently serving in Iraq. They protested and waged a huge campaign for Fluffy. Sgt. Joyce was astounded by the support. Finally Fluffy was granted the right to be adopted by the Joyce family.
That was September 2003. Fluffy became a symbol for the accomplishments of military dogs. Over the years, Sgt. Joyce and he participated in many ceremonies honoring war dogs. But the role Fluffy liked best was loyal family pet, who kept his family safe while Sgt. Joyce served overseas.
On October 17, 2008, this faithful hero became ill and passed away. He was on duty at the time, protecting his family while Sgt. Joyce was on another tour of duty.
This Veterans Day remember the four-legged heroes that have served our country since WWI.
Additional Resources: To see other Veterans Day events log onto:www.va.gov/vetsday
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