Brian Jones: “On July 8, I had the privilege of visiting the American Kennel Club in Raleigh, North Carolina, where care packages were…”

“On July 8, I had the privilege of visiting the American Kennel Club in Raleigh, North Carolina, where care packages were being prepared to be sent to our K-9 units overseas. The effort is called Project 7-4. Project 7-4 is an effort to help the United States War Dog Association collect much-needed supplies for both dogs and their handlers to send over to our active duty dog teams in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was very touching for me to see all the boxes being prepared by people who care so much. I was absolutely amazed by everything I saw that day at the American Kennel Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. Last year I had the great opportunity to watch some of these valuable dogs being trained at Lackland Air Force Base. Lackland is the center for all the training of all these dogs that help our men and women in uniform. Through the years that I have been in Congress, I have had the pleasure and honor to talk to many military dog handlers, some that go back to the Vietnam War, some to Desert Storm, and certainly many who have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. These dogs are so valuable because they are trained to sniff out the IEDs that kill so many and maim so many of our wonderful men and women in uniform. These dogs themselves many times are wounded, and many times killed. But as I had a soldier tell me one time, Yes, it breaks my heart. This has become my friend, this has become my buddy. But you know what?…”