Military Working Dog Is Returned to His Soldier

After a yearlong battle, Army Specialist Brent Grommet was happily reunited with his military working dog, Matty, at his home in the Midwest over the weekend. Grommet says he returned to Fort Campbell from a deployment in July 2013 to be treated for brain and spinal cord injuries, as well as PTSD. Meanwhile, Matty was transferred to Fort Bragg Vet Services for a torn ACL. Although Grommet had been approved to adopt the German Shepherd, once he’d recovered, he found out that Matty had been adopted by a civilian with ties to the military’s Tactical Explosives Detection Dog program. After the story made headlines, U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-08) and the American Humane Association made a deal with the Army to return Matty to Grommet. The other adoptive family has remained anonymous. "I’m beyond happy. It’s like a dream," Grommet said. And it sounds like Matty feels the same way. "Matty burst across the room, tackled Brent, and almost knocked him to the ground," the soldier’s father, Don Grommet, said of the reunion. "Brent was worried whether Matty would still recognize him. There was no question." — Read it at North Carolina’s ABC 11