K9 Callie

25 years ago the world changed. Families were torn asunder in the largest terrorist attack the modern world had known. Australian Shepherd Callie and her handler Peggy Faith rushed to help. They worked tirelessly searching the rubble of the Pentagon’s west wing. Years later, in a small training room at Penn Vet Working Dog Center I was a one year old pup. Named after the hero dog Callie that had come before me. In that room I met my new partner. I was to become the only Search and Rescue Dog in the entire Department of Defense. We jumped out of planes, swam the open ocean, and trained, and trained, and trained. Never again would the United States get caught on its back foot. We would be ready to be there in someone’s worst moments. We searched collapsed buildings, shear cliff walls, and in mother nature’s destructive wake. The sites I searched cannot even compare to the hellish landscape after the attacks of 9/11. But scale of devastation doesn’t care about the size of the destruction. When your entire family is ripped from you in less than a second or when everything you have known is inexplicably torn away, that pit of despair is the same. We shall never forget the lives lost 25 years ago, we will never forget the sacrifices made by first responders and neighbors, and we will not forget that we must be ready when it’s our turn to help others. These Things We Do, That Others May Live.

Happy I did some really cool things!

Had I known retirement meant doing what I want, laying in the sun, dozing off wherever, ignoring my handler’s commands, all while smelling wonderful smells… I would have hit the retirement button years ago. Honestly, it’s not much different from while I was working, just a lot fewer ticks 🕷️🕷️

Funny how back when I wore the uniform, the strict grooming standards and uniform regulations were so annoying, and now I miss complaining about it! Photo from the archive (circa 2022).

1 year ago today, I made the difficult decision to step away from the life I knew, the blood and sweat that I dedicated to this country, and the hardest and also most rewarding days that are innate to a life in Search And Rescue.

24 January 2025, I retired from the Air Force. It was a decision I didn’t take lightly, but there was a whole other world out there for me to explore as a civilian. My body was broken, my brain exhausted, but my spirits were high. I thought I knew what I was in for and prepared as best I could, but there’s no warning of how large the chasm would be when you stop doing the thing you love… the thing you identify as. I struggled for a few months, “what’s my mission?… what’s my purpose?” I miss the team, the challenges, and the reward of being a mediator between life and death. It was “ruff”, to say the least.

But soon after I retired, I found a place that feels like home. I took a position as a civilian at the Air National Guard Headquarters. I still get to go into work everyday with my once handler, now chauffeur. I charge around the office and brighten everyone’s day by sometimes accepting the treats they brought me, but always accepting a good game of fetch (as long as they throw the ball right and only if I deem them worthy enough to even drop the ball for).

The retired life has been good!