{"id":9113,"date":"2025-10-17T22:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/9113\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T22:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:40:13","slug":"u-s-war-dogs-marks-25-years-of-supporting-military-k-9-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/9113\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. War Dogs marks 25 years of supporting military K-9 teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Military working dog Ppuritan padded across the ballroom floor of the Plaza San Antonio Hotel & Spa on Friday as a crowd of veterans, handlers and their families rose to applaud his eight years of service.<\/p>\n

Moments later, the founding president of the U.S. War Dogs Association, Ron Aiello, placed a medal around Ppuritan\u2019s neck, recognizing his retirement from the U.S. Air Force and his place among the nation\u2019s four-legged veterans.<\/p>\n

The presentation was part of a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the U.S. War Dogs Association, a nonprofit founded in 2000 by five Vietnam War veterans who wanted to ensure the service and sacrifice of military K-9s would never again be forgotten.<\/p>\n

The anniversary celebration brought together active-duty military dog teams, former K-9 handlers, retired working dogs and their families to honor a quarter century of advocacy for military working dogs.<\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. War Dogs Association founding president Ron Aiello shakes hands with current president Chris Willingham before speaking at the organization\u2019s 25th anniversary ceremony on Friday. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

A year before the U.S. entered wars in the Middle East, Aiello, one of the first Marine scout-dog handlers in southern Vietnam, and four other veterans joined forces in an effort to memorialize the dogs left behind after the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to honor our war dogs that served us in Vietnam. And at that time, there were no memorials going up, and not much talk about the dogs that served us in Vietnam,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was our goal originally. We wanted to honor our dogs, since they never came back from Vietnam. They were abandoned there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization soon began building memorials across the country, with the first completed in 2006 in New Jersey after years of fundraising. But as the theater of war in the Middle East expanded, so did the organization\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

Today, the group provides aid to handlers and their dogs during and after their time in service. Since 2002, the U.S. War Dogs have provided military dog teams across 31 installations in 19 countries with more than 20,000 care packages containing everything from dog treats and cooling vests to hot sauce and candy \u2014 small comforts meant to give teams a taste of home.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Kosechata family poses with their retired military working dog, Rider, at the U.S. War Dogs Association\u2019s 25th anniversary ceremony on Friday. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

On the home front, the association has distributed more than $2 million to over 1,000 retired canines and their families. Through its Rx Program, U.S. War Dogs covers the cost of prescription medications for retired dogs whose adopters often face steep medical expenses without military assistance, while partnerships with veterinary clinics have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in specialized surgeries, prosthetics and rehabilitation care.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Air Force dog handler Josh Kosechata and his wife, Rochelle, spoke about their experience receiving support through the programs for their military working dog, Rider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got Rider, he had an undiagnosed problem that almost took him from us,\u201d Kosechata said. \u201cWe got ahold of U.S. War Dogs, and they helped us out right away. It just takes the strain off when you\u2019re dealing with crazy vet visits. If we didn\u2019t have their backing, I don\u2019t know how we would have managed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to medical support, Kosechata\u2019s family was selected to receive a custom-built fence through the association\u2019s 25th anniversary initiative. The project was led by volunteer Ray Myers, a veteran and former dog handler who traveled from Detroit to Florida to construct the fence by hand.<\/p>\n

For association president Chris Willingham, stories like Josh and Rider\u2019s illustrate what the organization has become over 25 years \u2014 a network of veterans, handlers and supporters continuing to look out for one another long after active duty ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means so much for us to be able to give back to the military working dogs, and it\u2019s just wonderful to hear from the ones who are receiving care from U.S. War Dogs,\u201d Willingham said. \u201cThe canine family to us feels just like that \u2014 family \u2014 and U.S. War Dogs has many incredible members, chapters and partners that provide support, care, honor and respect in our own unique way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Military working dog Balansy waits on the side of the ballroom before a ceremony honoring fallen K-9 teams at the U.S. War Dogs Association\u2019s 25th anniversary event on Friday. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Military working dog Ppuritan padded across the ballroom floor of the Plaza San Antonio Hotel & Spa on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8555,8556,8557,8558,82,84,83,3028,8559,1913,6251],"class_list":["post-9113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-chris-willingham","tag-k-9","tag-military-dogs","tag-ron-aiello","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-typedaily","tag-u-s-war-dogs-association","tag-veterans","tag-wc-500-750"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}