Federal law classifies trained military dogs as equipment, so when their time is up serving the country, they are treated like old Army trucks and not brought back home. The dogs are being euthanized. Some dogs are saved by people who pay the thousands of dollars to transport them back to the states and pay the necessary veterinary bills.

This is an embarrassment, not only for the thousands of dollars spent on training these dogs, which is then lost. It is an embarrassment because these dogs have served the United States well and have saved many, many soldiers by sniffing out IEDs.

There is a law in Congress that would reclassify the dogs as personnel, ship them back to the U.S. and have non-profits take over their care. Of course, it’s stuck in the partisan gridlock. If Congress can’t pass a law to save the lives of dogs that have saved the lives of American servicemen, then they are never going to get consensus to settle the budget and deficit mess.

Here is a video that’s a few months old, but emphasizing the same problem.