Family Of Fallen Marine Takes In Shell-Shocked Bomb Sniffing Dog Of War

Gunner, a bomb-sniffing dog mustered out of the Marines for canine post-traumatic stress disorder, has found a new home with Deb and Dan Dunham, whose Marine son died in Iraq protecting the men beside him.

With patience and a red-rubber toy, the Dunhams are trying to coax Gunner back to emotional health. With liquid brown eyes and Labrador loyalty, Gunner is giving the Dunhams back a little of what they lost. Together, they are healing what they can and living with what they must.

“My Marine never came home,” says Deb. “I have a place for a Marine.”

In 2004, during a patrol near the Syrian border, Cpl. Jason Dunham found himself fighting an insurgent hand-to-hand on a dusty road. When two other Marines ran over to help, the Iraqi dropped a hand grenade. Instead of rolling away, Cpl. Dunham covered the grenade with his helmet, shielding his men.

Gunner’s wounds are emotional, not physical. Trained to sniff out explosive booby traps, he was deployed with the Marines to Afghanistan last fall. His trainer wasn’t sure what trauma pushed him over the edge?the explosions around the camp perhaps, or gunfire from the rifle range.

Told to hunt for explosives during trial runs, he’d make a token effort then circle back to his trainer’s side, hoping to play fetch. Gunner proved so skittish that the troops never risked sending him on patrol.

After almost a year trying to retrain him, the Marines decided that, as a warrior, Gunner was beyond salvation.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.