A good retirement for MWD Bad

  • Published
  • By Lee Anne Hensley
  • Hilltop Times staff
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  Life is good for Bad.

After nine years of active duty service with the U.S. Air Force and the 75th Security Forces Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, which included five deployments to different war zones, a military working dog named Bad got to retire to greener pastures Oct. 1 after his adoption became official through a national MWD adoption program.

Although his previous handlers guess that he may have been a rambunctious puppy to deserve the name Bad, the nine-year-old German Shepherd showed no signs of bad behavior when his leash was officially turned over to his new adopting family. Majors Robert Filbey and Patricia Pankey, a married couple stationed here, welcomed Bad into their family, which consists of their two-year-old daughter, two older Labrador dogs, two horses and a cat.

"I don't think he's ever seen a horse before," Pankey said. "So he might have a little culture shock. But we are thrilled to have him as a part of our family."

Col. Tony Maisonet, 75th SFS commander, said that although Bad was trained to detect explosive ordnance and provide defensive countermeasures against perpetrators, he was recently given a professional psychological evaluation to ensure an easy assimilation into a multiple-member, multiple-species family. Maisonet pointed out to the group assembled at the adoption ceremony that Bad remained prone and calmly chewed on a dog toy while the group gathered around him during the event.

"If Bad were still an attack dog, he would not have let anyone near me or his handler," he said.

Panke and Filbey also went through a screening process and completed a comprehensive application.

"The application process was more rigorous than medical school," said Pankey, who is a flight medicine physician with the 75th Medical Group.

According to the MWD page of the Lackland AFB, Texas, Web site, the adoption law gives priority first to civilian law enforcement agencies, then to prior dog handlers and finally to the general public.

Dogs are put up for adoption if they no longer meet military working dog standards or have completed their designated time in service. Due to his age and increasing medical conditions, Bad was retired from military service last year and was spending his days at the MWD kennels here, waiting while his adoption became finalized.

For more information on how to adopt a military working dog, visit www.lackland.af.mil/units/341stmwd/index.asp.

Mitch Shaw, Standard Examiner staff, contributed material to this article.