Fallen GI's military dog starts new life - CNN

[Yrys]

Fallen GI's military dog starts new life

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (CNN)  -- Bo, a 2-year-old black Labrador and specialized search dog, has good reason to be wagging his tail. The military working
canine officially hung up his war leash at a moving ceremony Friday and retired to the good life in Georgia after being wounded in a roadside bombing that killed
his handler in Afghanistan last year.

Staff Sgt. Donald Tabb, 29, serving his fourth deployment with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, died February 5, 2007, when his vehicle was hit
by the roadside bomb. Bo, who was trained to clear roadways, find explosives and bomb-making materials, survived and has been adopted by Tabb's family.

Willie Smith, Tabb's brother, fought back tears Friday as he officially received the dog. "I just want to say, having Bo means a great deal to myself and my family,"
he said.

"Mr. Smith, today you've agreed to take Bo into your home to be part of your family," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Timmins, kennel master with the 6th Military
Police Detachment. "You're not just receiving a pet today. Bo is an outstanding soldier, and he served his country with distinction."

Bo and Tabb went through extensive training together, graduating in March 2007 from the Defense Department's Dog Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base in
Texas. The dog's specialized training allowed him to be "off the leash at distances up to 100 meters," according to an Army news release.

"It's impossible to spend two minutes with this dog without smiling at least once," Timmins said. Of Tabb, Timmins added, "The one constant thing he would always
tell me is how much everybody loved Bo. And I wholeheartedly believe that a dog takes on a personality of its handler ... because everyone who knew Sgt. Tabb loved
him too." Tabb served with the Military Working Dog section, 6th Military Police Detachment, 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Traditionally, a military working dog outranks the handler by one grade. Bo was officially retired as master sergeant. Tabb, an Atlanta native, was posthumously
promoted to sergeant first class at Friday's ceremony at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Memorial.

Does someone know the reason of the tradition ?

 

[1feral1]

Now that is a good story that deserves to be told!

 

[Shamrock]

Does someone know the reason of the tradition ?

If you ask my dog, he's the head of the household and all he surveys.

 

[Yrys]

If you ask my dog, he's the head of the household and all he surveys.

Then can you ask you dog why his peers start that tradition

?

 

[cavalryman]

Then can you ask you dog why his peers start that tradition

?

I asked my dog....

He just gave me the kind of look my CO gives me when I ask an SFQ...

My wife tells me the dog ordered that I do 5 extras...

Sigh 

 

[Red 6]

Military working dogs are classified as government property and officially are not members of the service that owns them. Technically, they do not have any rank and cannot receive awards and decorations. Unoffically, dogs sometimes wear stripes and awards, and the best example of this is Chesty, the Marine Corps mascot, although he isn't a MWD. In the past, dogs were awarded Bronze Stars, and so on. This practice was stopped under provisions of AR 672-5-1 (US Army Awards and Decorations.) Below is a link to the AR that governs the MWD program. 

www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/p190_12.pdf

 

[medaid]

Just like PSDs they're all constables yay!

 

[Shec]

Does someone know the reason of the tradition ?

Stands to reason that, especially in a hierarchical organization,  one would outrank the being that stoops and scoops after you, no?

 

[Yrys]

Stands to reason that, especially in a hierarchical organization,  one would outrank the being that stoops and scoops after you, no?

Well, as a civilian having the impression upon reading this forum that WO sometimes do that for news soldiers, nope ...