LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Highlighted on next week's calendar is the date - not that a reminder will be needed.
An e-mail will be sent to the base commander's inbox. It will offer support to the commander; it takes someone who has participated in fostering a military working dog puppy to understand what the day means.
"I know what it feels like to turn one in," said Sharon Witter, Airman and Family Readiness Center flight chief. "You've contributed to the mission but the hardest thing is letting go."
Nnordo, a Belgian Malinois puppy, goes back into the military working dog program June 8 for training after being fostered the past three months by Col. William H. Mott V, 37th Training Wing commander, and his family.
The e-mail of support will come from Ms. Witter, who was part of a trio that fostered a Belgian Malinois puppy at the AFRC last year.
The puppy program is designed to foster out military working dog puppies to caregivers in the San Antonio area. The puppies learn social skills from the foster families from a variety of social settings before training.
The 341st Training Squadron is home to the military working dogs, a Department of Defense program. Military working dogs are used in patrol, drug and explosive detection worldwide, and for specialized DoD mission functions and other government agencies.
"It's very fulfilling to get the job done," Ms. Witter said. "Aamee (the AFRC puppy) is going to TSA (Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security); when I go through an airport, I'll be looking for her."
Colonel Mott said Maj. Gen. Darrell Jones, former 37th TRW commander, told him before he arrived at Lackland last summer that fostering a puppy would connect the colonel to the mission, that he had done it and "it's great."
"I thought this'll be great, a lot of fun," Colonel Mott said. "Then you start realizing this is not just a dog but a dog with rules. When this guy gets done training, he's a very valuable asset.
"I bring him to work every day unless I have a heavy schedule - then it's not fun for him. When I'm in and out of the car and going places, that's a good day for him."
Nnordo has fit in well around the Mott house with the children and their 8-year-old Labrador retriever though he's considered the thief of the household.
"I (Nnordo) will find it, I'll trot off with it and you have to chase me," he said. "That's the most fun game. And you always have to be on the lookout for what's in the garbage cans and closet."
And when Tuesday comes, who will it hit the hardest?
"I kid around and say the kids, but it's me," Colonel Mott said. "They (341st TRS) asked me if I would take another one and I absolutely will. But I do want to see how Nnordo does first."
For more information about the fostering program, call 671-3686.