Success: Sgt. Rex will be reunited with Marine Corporal Leavey!

Last weekend, I wrote a blog post about Sgt. Rex, a German Shepherd who served America in two tours of duty in Iraq.  Now at the mandatory retirement age of ten, and no longer able to perform his duties for his country, there was some question as to whether he would be reunited with his handler, Marine Corporal Megan Leavey, who currently lives in New Jersey.

Thanks to the efforts of Senator Charles Schumer, we now have a happy ending to the story.  With an online petition of 20,000 names, Schumer went to both the Marines and the Air Force to help expedite the process by which Sgt. Rex would be retired from the Armed Forces and shipped to New Jersey, where the veteran working dog can spend his final years with his handler and compatriot.  In addition, the New York Yankees have chipped in; Randy Levine, the team’s president, has announced that through their efforts, Sgt. Rex will receive transportation and medical coverage for the remainder of his life.

We don’t get a chance to thank our veterans and our soldiers.  In this case, for what Corporal Leavey and Sergeant Rex did for our country… we can’t thank them enough.

But certainly this is a good start.