Embracing Love and Reconciliation: Soldiers' Return to Family, Peace, and Harmony, Part 2 of 2

After retiring from military service, many soldiers share touching moments with their loyal canine-companions. Sometimes, however, it’s the dog-people themselves who retire and have a chance to reunite with their soldier friends. Trained tracker German Shepherd-person Attila and US Marine Sergeant Jacob Barela had worked closely together in a special operation for about three years. When Attila was permitted to retire from nine years of demanding military service, Jacob asked to take him home. “The way he reacted, the way he jumped on me like that, he knows who I am, so that’s good.”

Mission K9 Rescue, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to serving retiring and retired military dog-individuals, and one of its missions is to reunite these retired dog-veterans with their former partners. In one of the 500 reunions facilitated by Mission K9, they arranged for a retired German Shepherd-person named Szultan to reunite with retired Staff Sergeant Angela Lowe of the US Air Force, Szultan’s first partner. Out of love for Szultan and their deep friendship, Angela replied with a resounding, “Yes! I’ll take him!”

US Air Force Staff Sergeant Michael Alcala was heartbroken when he was separated from his bomb-sniffing partner, John, after three years together. True to his word, years later, Michael Alcala reunited with his retired partner John, the German Shepherd-veteran, after John’s eight years of service. “To have my best friend at my side again just pure happiness and joy for him to finally get the retirement he deserves.”

Our Most Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has expounded on many occasions regarding how animal-people contribute to humanity and what actions to take for creating a compassionate, peaceful planet. “The animal-people come to this planet with a special role. Many of them are able to bring down Divine power from Heaven, or love, just through their presence because they are very connected with the Divine at all times.[…] We all want to have a peaceful world and we all talk about how we want peace and love. Well, I think we should start it now and let peace begin on our plate. Let love begin with our choice.”