Emir one of many Military Working Dogs who need solace in retirement

A hero finds a home
Emir one of many Military Working Dogs who need solace in retirement
By JOHN NORTON

He served four tours of duty in Iraq. He was part of the security detail for President George W. Bush in Baghdad. He saved as many as 1,000 lives of service men and women.

But there are no GI Bill benefits for Emir. Very popular around the campus of Pikes Peak Community College, he is spending what are probably his final days swimming and enjoying as much raw meat, preferably game, that his adoptive owner can procure.

Emir, nicknamed “Stump” for a shortened tail he got when he bit it off during his training, is a 9-year-old German Shepherd, retired from duty with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing because of a broken vertebra, most likely from jumping out of aircraft and vehicles as he prowled ahead of his unit to search for explosives.

The canine Air Force veteran is now under the care of — and cares for — Army veteran Lani Singh, who also had to leave the service after a back injury she incurred 17 days short of being deployed to Iraq.

Emir is the second Military Working Dog that Singh has taken in. The first was Billy, a Dutch Shepherd who died last year, suffering from broken vertebrae and burn scars.

Singh was a combat medic. A slightly-built woman weighing in at 100 pounds., she suffered a broken vertebra from the weight of her 129-lb. pack during training, but still spent a year at Fort Carson working with fellow soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress. That was where she met Billy, who regularly visited the soldiers and always raised their spirits in spite of his own crippling injuries.
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