Army veteran Julio Munoz served alongside a military dog named Ben. Munoz was Ben’s handler and they were quite a team!
“I don’t like to talk too much about what happened overseas,” Muñoz said. “But we made contact with some bad guys, and I had to tie Ben back for his own safety. I went back to the hole to start shooting, and Ben chewed through his leash and laid right down next to me.”
Munoz promised to adopt Ben when he retired, but the Pentagon allowed Ben to be adopted by a civilian. It was recently exposed that two Pentagon employees at K2 Solutions were secretly allowing civilians to adopt military dogs, rather than sending them home with their handlers. This is what happened to Ben.
Kim Scarborough adopted Ben, but when she saw Munoz’s name on Ben’s papers, she contacted him. The pair hadn’t seen each other in three years.
Munoz wasn’t sure about their reintroduction since Ben had bonded with Scarborough. Ben also seemed confused at first and wasn’t sure which person to take direction from.
But, Ben did head for Munoz and was excited to see him. Scarborough knew what she needed to do, as difficult as it was.
“Julio,” Scarborough said softly, “why don’t you take the dog home?”
“He’s happy with you,” Munoz said, trying to contain his emotions. “I don’t want to take that away from him.”
“I didn’t go to war with him,” Scarborough said. “It’s different.”
And after a three year delay, Ben now lives with Munoz.
These dogs and their handlers become so bonded, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would think it was a good decision to separate them. Separating them highlights the inefficiency and red tape involved with the federal government.
A Marine was recently reunited with his military dog. Check out Corporal Matt Foster and Mick’s reunion in the video below.
If you think handlers should be able to adopt their military dogs, please share this story!
H/T: AWM
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