I’ve always had pets in my home, ever since I was a small child.  First, one shepherd-collie mix, then the first in a series of all-black cats.  Then a second dog (rescued German shepherd).  Then a Himalayan cat…and on and on.  Currently, one hamster, one cat and one dog share my home.

I love animal companionship.  Pets are so loyal, even those aloof cats, in their own way.  So it was with interest that I read about two unique soldiers at Fort Bragg-Sgt. First Class Boe and Sgt. First Class Budge-black Labradors trained to help alleviate combat stress.

The dogs were donated and trained by America’s VetDogs, an organization dedicated to training dogs to serve the special needs of soldiers.  The two have been deployed with the 528th Combat Stress Control, 44th Medical Command in Iraq for the past 15 months.  They comforted soldiers recovering from injuries, through regular visits to the Combat Support Hospital at FOB Diamondback.

Or they provided the troops with a friendly reminder of loved family pets back home, filling in as Man’s Best Friend far away from home.  Their friendly, furry morale boost was always appreciated at the end of a long day!

Boe and Budge arrived stateside at Pope Air Force Base on June 6.  Their next assignment?  Fort Gordon, Georgia will soon welcome two new four-footed Sergeants into the ranks.

In Genesis, God creates the world, and inhabits it with creatures to share our lives with us.  May we continue to share our lives with these wonderful companions – Budge, Boe, Fluffy, Spot…they are all a blessing to us, from God.

Read more about Boe and Budge at http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/06/11/22477-fort-braggs-unique-soldiers-help-alleviate-combat-stress/index.html

Tags: dogs, Ft. Gordon, labradors, News, stress

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 4:58 pm and is filed under Active Duty, National Guard, News, Reserves, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.