Rudy retires after 10 years of service

  • Published
  • By Adamarie Lewis Page
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD FIELD, JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  After an Airman serves an honorable career, they are rewarded with a proper retirement. The same goes for Air Force Airmen who walk on four legs.

A military working dog, Rudy, has retired after 10 years of faithful service to the Air Force.

Rudy, badge number C012, entered the Air Force in November of 1999 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to attend the largest Department of Defense Canine School in the world. The Military Working Dog Center at Lackland AFB provides trained military working dogs and handlers for the DoD and other government agencies.

"From day one, the handlers are taught to work with dogs," said Tech. Sgt. Melissa Szczerbiak, 627th Security Forces kennel master. "The course teaches basic obedience, patrol work and detection."

After completing a physically demanding and mentally challenging training course, Rudy arrived at his first and only duty station, McChord Field, in April 2000 as a drug detection and patrol canine.

"Rudy's specialty was drug detection," said Sergeant Szczerbiak, who worked with Rudy since 2007 and became partnered with him three months prior to his retirement. "He spent his whole career here, performing his specialized job."

Throughout his career, he maintained an accuracy rate of more than 90%. He discovered eight finds in three years of drug busts and performed more than 2,000 searches.

"I loved working with Rudy," said Sergeant Szczerbiak. "He had his own personality. Sometimes he was over bearing, other times he acted like a two-year-old puppy. Whatever he was doing, he put forth everything he had."

Like any retirement, it is not complete until the out processing is done. Out processing for a military working dog consists of a veterinarian exam to determine if the dog is physically unable to perform his assigned duties. This usually occurs between the tenth and 12th year of service. When the dog's career is over, it is estimated to be worth $75,000, based on training and experience.

"The time frame of retirement depends on the dog's experience," said Sergeant Szczerbiak. "If the dog has been on multiple deployments or has medical issues, they retire early. Some can be adopted as young as eight years old."

The next step is to identify the dog as non-deployable or stateside deployment only. The dog's records are sent to Lackland AFB for a medical review. If the board concurs with the veterinarian's request to retire the dog, it is then offered to local law enforcement.

"Usually, younger dogs go to law enforcement," said Sergeant Szczerbiak. "The older ones are often given to former handlers or put up for public adoption."

Public Law 106-446 makes the dog available for adoption to law enforcement agencies, former handlers of these dogs and other persons capable of caring for them. Rudy will be put up for adoption. In his case, he was not deemed suitable for law enforcement.

"He's too old for local law enforcement." said Tech. Sgt. Guy Dashnea, 627th SFS military working dog handler. "He still does all the basic obedience tasks. He has some hip problems, but he'll run with stiffness. He is extremely friendly and loves to have his belly rubbed."

According to Sergeant Dashnea, Rudy's retirement is no different than the retirement of a fellow Airman. He is honored the same.

"He's been with us so long," said Sergeant Dashnea. "I feel like we're adopting one of our babies out."