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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.

You are his life, his love, his leader.

He will be yours, faithful and true , to the last beat of his heart.

You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

- Author Unknown –

They trained together for three years

In Pakistan they lived together in a tent

The bond that formed between them grew

They were together everywhere they went

In June they were once again deployed

They arrived side by side in our war in Iraq

They worked as a team hunting for explosives

Both night and day covering each other’s back

Then one very terrible and tragic afternoon

A roadside bomb exploded under their Humvee

This heroic female soldier was critically injured

Passing out in pain “Where’s Rex?” was her plea

The medics said her loyal comrade had died

For weeks after this soldier was truly forlorn

But Rex the Dog had also managed to survive

And one day soon their friendship was re-born

But our military has always had very severe rules

They kept telling her that Rex was military property

They kept telling her that her best friend in the world

Must serve another five-ten years before he could be free

And it literally took an Act of Congress

For Sgt. Dana and her dog to remain best friends

Proving that not all government regulations are sound

Proving that compassion for our neighbors must not end

It took 30,000 concerned public signatures

And numerous letters to our representatives

Before our government bowed to public pressure

Before government leaders decided they should ‘give’

Not all government regulations are sound

And we truly have the right to question them

I sincerely thank everyone who signed their petition

And I sincerely hope that our compassion never ends

Thanks to the overwhelming outpouring of public support, the legal obstacles were finally cleared, allowing U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jamie Dana to adopt Rex, her military working dog partner – and her best friend.

And on January 13, 2006, at a special adoption ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, Sgt. Dana’s squadron commander, Maj. Paul Cairney, officially handed over Rex’s leash to Sgt. Dana – releasing him from any further military service.