Each Memorial Day, the Special Operations Forces (SOF) K9 Memorial Committee and the Airborne & Special Operations Museum holds a Memorial Ceremony to honor K9s who died the previous year. New plaques are established around the “Constant Vigilance” statue, each dedicated to a single K9, marking both the dogs’ birth and death dates. This year, the ceremony will be held on May 25th at 1200 on the grounds of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville.
“Constant Vigilance” is the world’s first memorial to Special Operations K9s killed in the line of duty. It was dedicated in July of 2013 and honors K9s at home and abroad. In front of the statue is a dedication plaque which reads:
The Bond Between a SOF handler and his K9 is eternal. Trusting each other is a nameless language.
Here we honor the SOF K9s that have paid the ultimate price.
These well trained K9s have saved numerous lives, often times losing their own lives in the process. Fittingly, Constant Vigilance overlooks “Iron Mike” – the icon of the Airborne Trooper. Both memorials are on the grounds of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville.
Field of Honor
Each year, the Fayetteville and Fort Bragg Community host a “Field of Honor” on the grounds of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. Each flag honors a current or past service member; the same courtesy is extended to the K9s. The “K9 Field of Honor” surrounds the statue during Field of honor. Large flags are placed next to the dogs’ flags, representing the handlers who were killed alongside the dog.
Don’t see Cats doing anything this significant.. Gotta love the war dogs.
Many of us owe our lives to MWD, PED, TED, etc. My last rotation ours found more IEDs than any other in country. God bless them, not just SOF, all the conventional ones attached to SOF as well.
Jon, OPT
As a handler, your thanks is appreciated. Nice to see a monument to the SOF dogs. So many of the conventional dogs go unremembered.
SSD, not that there is one nor am I saying you should implement one, but seriously, if there was a thumbs up on this website, this would deserve it…phenomenal article and thank you much for sharing
+1 Awesome article.
Love this article! Just as our K-9 pals are part of our families at home they are considered best friends by those who handle them. The trust and bond between a handler and his K-9 is an amazing unity. Recently, our business has made a commitment to provide our beloved K-9’s tactical gear and equipment to help protect their lives and bring them home safely just as we do for their human partners! I am excited about this new avenue http://www.practicaltacticalsupplies.com is venturing into. Maybe we can help reduce the number of flags that will be placed in the future! Thank you for the article 🙂
Thank you for sharing the news about this special event. In Fayetteville/ Fort Bragg we are proud to be home to the first memorial to special operations canines killed during wartime. I attended the dedication and the 2014 memorial ceremony. It was very moving. I’ll share pictures on our facebook page on Monday, if anyone is interested. http://www.Facebook.com/visitfayettevillenc. Thanks again for sharing.