Lex
Lex was a military dog, the first to be retired while remaining fit for duty, to allow him to be put up for adoption. During his military career Lex was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in combat, his handler was killed in the same attack. United States Marine Corporal Dustin Lee had worked with another dog, which he had adopted as his personal dog when that animal retired from active duty before being paired with Lex.
Lee and Lex worked together as an explosive ordnance inspection team. While dogs have been used in warfare since ancient times, the United States military use of dogs for varying purposes dates to the Seminole Wars in the 1800s. A dog’s extraordinary ability to detect specific scents allows them to have a success rate of up to 98% when used to identify explosives, even in the presence of other scents. Lex was a veteran of a previous tour in Iraq when he was paired with Corporal Lee at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany before they were deployed to Iraq together in November 2006.
In March 2007, Lee and Lex were stationed at a Forward Operating Base when it was attacked by a rocket known as an SPG-9. Corporal Lee was evacuated to medical care but died from his wounds shortly after sustaining them. Lex was wounded by shrapnel, but had to be dragged away from his wounded handler before medical attention could be given to either of them. Lex’s wounds were sufficient to cause him to be returned to the United States to recover, after which he was sent to Albany fully ready for active duty.
Corporal Lee’s parents started an online petition for support asking the military to allow them to adopt Lex, and North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones assisted them in obtaining approval from the military. After military red tape was satisfied, Lex was retired, having completed five years of active duty and Lex was adopted by Lee’s parents. Lex made several visits to VA hospitals in the United States after his retirement, despite mobility issues caused by his war service.
Lex retained multiple pieces of shrapnel from the attack in which he had been wounded, lodged in and near the spine in a manner which precluded them being removed surgically. Despite treatments which included stem cell regenerative therapy, these injuries hampered him for the rest of his life, before he succumbed to cancer in 2012.