{"id":14105,"date":"2016-04-06T11:18:23","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T16:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=14105"},"modified":"2016-04-06T11:18:23","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T16:18:23","slug":"military-news-usmc-bomb-sniffing-dog-receives-highest-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/06\/military-news-usmc-bomb-sniffing-dog-receives-highest-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"Military News: USMC Bomb Sniffing Dog Receives Highest Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"postSubtitle\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"postSubtitle\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"articlePostSubtitle\">\n<div class=\"postSubtitle\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PDSA Dickin Medal for War Hero Dog Lucca\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JPZs9EVqNuA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"postSubtitle\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"postSubtitle\">Lucca is the first U.S. Marine service dog to receive the medal, considered the world\u2019s top honor for war animals.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"articlePostBody\">\n<div class=\"articlePostContent\">\n<div class=\"postContent\">\n<p>A bomb-sniffing U.S. Marine Corps German shepherd\u00a0who survived an IED blast while on patrol in Afghanistan was awarded the world\u2019s highest honor for service dogs on April 5.<\/p>\n<p>The 12-year-old canine, named Lucca, joins a small pantheon of war animals who\u2019ve received the prestigious People\u2019s Dispensary for Sick Animals Dicken Medal, which has been awarded to dozens of dogs, messenger pigeons, three horses, and a cat since it was introduced in 1943. She is the first U.S. Marine Corps dog to receive the medal, considered the world\u2019s top military honor for non-humans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLucca\u2019s conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty makes her a hugely deserving recipient of the PDSA Dickin Medal,\u201d Jan McLoughlin, director general of the PDSA, said during a special ceremony at the Wellington Barracks in London. \u201cHer ability and determination to seek out arms and explosives preserved human life amid some of the world\u2019s fiercest military conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Lucca completed over 400 missions with American troops over the course of a six-year career. No American casualties were sustained on any of the patrols she was on.<\/p>\n<div class=\"articlePostContent\">\n<div class=\"postContent\">\n<p>Life on the line ended for Lucca when she was struck by a roadside bomb during a routine patrol in Afghanistan\u2019s restive Helmand province in March 2012.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-14106\" src=\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/04\/lucca.jpg?w=620\" alt=\"Lucca\" width=\"620\" height=\"310\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe explosion was huge and I immediately feared the worst for Lucca,\u201d Cpl. Juan Rodriguez, who was Lucca\u2019s handler when she was injured, <a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2016\/04\/05\/military-dog-who-lost-leg-in-afghanistan-awarded-highest-war-med\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">told The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cI ran to her and saw her struggling to get up. I picked her up and ran to the shelter of a nearby tree line, applied a tourniquet to her injured leg, and called the medics to collect us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lucca lost her left front leg and suffered burns to her chest as a result of the blast, but recovered quickly after a life-saving surgery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough all of her treatment, and despite the pain she was in, her temperament never changed,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cHer fighting spirit was plain to see and I was so proud of how quickly she recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lucca is now in the care of her original handler, Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Willingham, who served two tours with Lucca in Iraq before placing her in Rodriguez\u2019s care.<\/p>\n<p>Read the Original Article at <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/taskandpurpose.com\/us-marine-corps-bomb-sniffing-dog-receives-top-award-war-animals\/?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=tp-today\">Task and Purpose<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tpFbCommentsBtnContainer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lucca is the first U.S. Marine service dog to receive the medal, considered the world\u2019s top honor for war animals. A bomb-sniffing U.S. Marine Corps German shepherd\u00a0who survived an IED blast while on patrol in Afghanistan was awarded the world\u2019s highest honor for service dogs on April 5. The 12-year-old canine, named Lucca, joins a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3617,1247,2820,1860],"tags":[10917,1538,1582,10918,10919,10920],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}