Rex

Rex is a 7 year old German Shepherd and like any other dog likes to be scratched in that special spot. Rex is no ordinary dog - well, he is but he works for Fort Lewis Army Base as a patrol explosive detector dog and is currently stationed with Jones in Washington state. He has received a Joint Service Achievement medal and two combat badges. Rex as a young dog completed training program for the military where he learned to sniff out explosives, take down a person running away, and attack an assailant, a person who physically hurts another.

In May of 2005 Rex and his partner Jones were deployed to Iraq to do their primary mission of base defense. Also Rex and Jones volunteer off-base missions which are very dangerous. Thanks to Rex and his ultra-sensor K9 nose they found about 17 weapon caches and if these weapons were not found they could have been used against U.S soldiers or Iraqi civilians.

On one of their successful missions, Rex and Jones had to jump 20 feet from a helicopter into a hot zone and at this time Rex, who weighed 100 pounds, landed atop of Jones. Finally, after that painful start, they swam through a marsh in about 95-degree weather to reach their final destination. During that night Jones did not wear his night-vision goggles because he trusted Rex to be his eyes in the dark.

Finally back home along with some secret service missions and publicity trips, Rex and Jones serve as a Fort Lewis police K9 unit and tackle law enforcement. Jones says that Rex is a great psychological deterrent.

Rex and Jones are my heroes because even if they do not know me they protect me from danger.