Sailor given meritorious advancement

[unhappycamper]

Petty officer receives rare honor for leadership, expertise in Iraq


Sailor given meritorious advancement
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, January 9, 2008

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — If you want to know about Petty Officer 1st Class John C. Caral, just ask the U.S. Navy.

The service rolled out some of its highest praise for the Sasebo sailor Tuesday — “highest caliber,” “highly professional,” “strives for excellence in any endeavor” and “produces exceptional results.”

The Navy awarded Caral a rare meritorious advancement for extraordinary combat service in the Middle East, which immediately elevated him from a second class to a first class petty officer.

The praise was hard-won and laced with the tragedy and danger of war.

Caral, a master-at-arms, spent his 2006-07 deployment in Iraq searching for enemy weapons and improvised explosives with his bomb-sniffing dog, Baro.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51494

[MADem]

1. Every time I see one of those dogs, I laugh

They keep 'em lean, so that they'll work.

One dog was so lean that he ate my chief's lunch, which was in a sack under the guy's desk. Homemade stew from the wife, musta been tasty.

The stupid handler actually was thrilled that the dog had "hit" on something (it was a "health and welfare" drug sweep). The chief was a religious teetotler, which made the situation even more ironic. The dog had the tupperware open and the stew scoffed before anyone figured out what he was up to!

I suggested that the handler take the chief out to lunch, which he did.