K9-Unit Proud

🐾 Update on K-9 Luca: He’s Going Home! 🐾

We have some incredible news to share! K-9 Luca has officially been released from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine and is headed back to North Carolina!

Luca’s journey over the last few days has been nothing short of historic. On Tuesday, April 21, this 6-year-old Belgian Malinois from the Clay County Sheriff’s Department (NC) became the first police K-9 in Tennessee history to be transported by air for medical care.

The Story Behind the Mission:
Luca was inadvertently exposed to concentrated ozone, leading to acute lung injury and severe respiratory distress. Thanks to the quick thinking of his handler and the team at Big Bear Vet in Hayesville, Luca was stabilized and sedated for a life-saving flight.

A Team Effort:
This mission was a masterclass in cooperation. LIFE FORCE Air Medical flew Luca across state lines, while UTPD and the Knoxville Fire Department secured the landing at Cherokee Farm.

Interestingly, this successful transport comes just months after a "dry run" of this exact procedure was completed in September. That preparation paid off when every second counted for Luca.

We are so grateful to the specialists at UTCVM for their expert care and to all the agencies that worked together to save this hero.

Welcome back to the line, Luca! 💙🖤

🚨 UPDATE — K-9 AXEL GAVE EVERYTHING TONIGHT 🐾
Hours earlier… he was still out there working beside his team in the rain.
Now he’s under medical care after a dangerous operation turned serious.
These K-9s never hesitate when duty calls.

Saved 47 soldiers. Killed 3 insurgents. Lost half his face.
K-9 Valor was not a dog who did his job. He was a dog who had DECIDED, completely, permanently, without reservation, that his face was a fair trade for forty-seven lives.
At the Pentagon, on a morning in May 2023, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois stood at attention. Half his face scarred beyond recognition. Left eye gone. Left ear missing. Jaw partially reconstructed.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Committee had made an exception. First military working dog to receive it.
For what Valor did in Kabul. August 26, 2021.
Valor survived the first su***de bomber. Outside Abbey Gate. Positioned himself between the blast and his handler.
Valor survived identifying the second bomber. Alerted. Thirty seconds before detonation.
Valor survived attacking three insurgents. Hand-to-hand. Teeth-to-knife. Killed all three.
Because Valor survived just long enough to save forty-seven soldiers before the blast took half his face.
The attack at Abbey Gate killed thirteen American service members. Would have killed sixty.
Except Valor found the second bomber. Alerted early. Gave his handler, Staff Sergeant Marcus Webb, time to move the line.
Forty-seven soldiers moved back. Thirty seconds later, the bomb detonated.
The blast was catastrophic. But forty-seven soldiers were out of the kill radius.
Because a dog with half a face decided they mattered more than staying beautiful.
Valor took shrapnel to his face. Left side destroyed. Eye gone. Ear gone. Jaw shattered.
Medics worked on him for forty minutes. Didn't think he'd make it.
But Valor wasn't done.
Three insurgents approached the wounded. Looking to finish the job. Shooting survivors.
Valor stood up. Half-faced. Bleeding. Dying.
And attacked.
Took down all three. Throat strikes. Neutralized.
Then collapsed.
They medevaced him to Germany. Seventeen surgeries. Reconstructed his jaw. Saved his life.
Couldn't save his face.
At the Pentagon ceremony, the Secretary of Defense placed the medal around Valor's neck.
The room stood. Applauded for eight minutes.
Valor sat at attention. Scarred face forward. Not hiding.
Webb stood beside him. Hand on Valor's shoulder.
"He doesn't see himself as disfigured," Webb said in his speech. "He sees himself as a soldier who did his job. Forty-seven people went home because of him. That's all he cares about. Not what he looks like. What he did."
After the ceremony, reporters wanted photos. Valor's "good side."
Webb refused. "No sides. Full face. He earned every scar. He's not hiding them."
The photos went viral. Half-faced war dog. Medal around neck. Eyes forward.
Comments poured in. "Most beautiful dog I've ever seen." "That's what a hero looks like." "Perfect face. Perfect soldier."
Valor retired with full honors. Lives with Webb in Colorado. Works as a PTSD therapy dog for veterans.
The soldiers he visits don't see his scars. They see courage.
"If he can keep going," one veteran said, touching Valor's scarred face, "looking like that, carrying what he carries... then I can too."
Valor is nine now. Still working. Still showing his face. Still proving that beauty is temporary. Heroism is forever.
K-9 Valor. Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Saved 47 soldiers. Lost half his face. Kept all his heart.
.

💔 END OF WATCH K9 TOMMY 💔Tommy wasn’t just a K9. He wasn’t just another badge. He was seven years of unwavering loyalty, courage, and love, wrapped in a beautiful German Shepherd’