“How many African-American males do you think there are in the yoga space?” he said. “I’m like the Lone Ranger.”

Gates is a former Army infantry lieutenant who went through Ranger school during his eight years in the military. Thanks to a combination of grit, yoga and his Army training, he was able to overcome addiction and post-traumatic stress in his civilian life. Gates is now a full-time yoga teacher and the author of three yoga and meditation books.

He is one of many veterans who have taken advantage of yoga as a technique to calm inner turmoil and as an alternative to destructive forms of self-medicating. In fact, there are multiple nonprofits designed specifically to help veterans looking for a more peaceful way to work through their problems.

For example, the nonprofit Yoga For Vets serves as an international database for veterans interested in finding yoga classes tailored to their needs wherever they may live.

“The idea is that when you’re working with this type of population … it creates a space of peace and comfort,” said Randy Hamlin, Yoga For Vets’ president and CEO. “That’s the first go-around, when you’re involved with something and you’re not freaking out.”

Hamlin is a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marines from 1966-74. He said that in his experience as a yoga teacher, he has seen veterans gain the confidence to cut back on or go off their prescribed medications entirely because of how yoga quelled their inner demons.

“I think yoga is a beginning aspect of creating balance in your life. It’s a foundation for it,” he said.

That was Gates’ experience with yoga. Doctors told him that his blood pressure was dangerously high, most likely due to complications stemming from his PTSD.

Now, at 55 years old, Gates said he no longer has blood-pressure issues and has also been sober 29 years at least partially thanks to the mental and physical relief provided by yoga.

“You physically learn how to calm down,” he said. “They teach you how to relax your body, slow and deepen your breathing, to be less and less disturbed when you’re disturbed because you learn to take care of yourself.”

Yoga also was crucial for former Marine Cpl. Jason Davey as he dealt with mental anguish that arose years after he exited the military. Luckily for him, he already had a yoga routine in place and was able to find the inner strength to keep his anxiety attacks at bay.

Davey has been practicing yoga for almost four years and teaching it for more than two years. He works with nonprofit Connected Warriors that makes sure veterans have access to cheap or even free yoga classes, and he also started his own nonprofit called Nola Seva dedicated to that goal in the New Orleans area.

“Ultimately, the idea is to create a space where the veteran can be more mindful of the present without being on edge,” Davey said.

All three of these veterans want to dispel the notion that practicing yoga somehow makes you less masculine.

“It’s about showing all the veterans out there that this isn’t just something for soccer moms ages 18-25,” Davey said. “There’s a perception among veterans groups that this is a women’s-only exercise, and it’s just not that. It’s a healing modality that requires effort on the service member’s part.”

Hamlin admitted that he also used to think yoga was “for girls,” but quickly opened his mind when he realized how much good it was doing for him.

“You start to look at things differently,” Hamlin said. “When you actually take the time to practice once or twice a week, it actually changes you. Your awareness level is a lot different. That’s been a big benefit.”

Gates had a lot more at stake with yoga than just personal betterment. He believes that his commitment to yoga has helped him be a more “calm, reasonable parent” to his 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son.

In Gates’ experience, male veterans are more likely to use yoga as a healing tool in cities than in rural areas. He challenged his fellow veterans regardless of race, gender or location to check out yoga and be the leaders the military taught them to be in terms of evangelizing its potential benefits for others.

“When I went to Ranger school, they told me Rangers lead the way,” Gates said. “Why would you be afraid of leading the way? Be one of the first men to show up to this class. Don’t be a wuss.”

The North Dakota National Guard struck a deal recently with the North Dakota Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to offer certain military police officers a partial training waiver as they attempt to join law enforcement in the Peace Garden State.

Instead of going through the usual 12-week training process, Army and Marine military police are now eligible to train for just two weeks. They must still pass the same final exams as everyone else.

“Our soldiers and airmen go through military training that in many cases makes them better or at least competitive for civilian jobs,” said Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann, adjutant general for the North Dakota National Guard. “We wanted to make sure our military members get civilian credit for their military-acquired skills.”

This waiver is currently not available to Air Force and Navy police officers but hopefully will be soon, said Lt. Dan Haugen, training director for North Dakota’s Law Enforcement Training Academy.

The shorter training course will focus on issues that might not have come up during the prospective officers’ time in the military, like criminal law, juvenile law, traffic law and rules governing searches and seizures, Haugen said. It will also include an emphasis on North Dakota-specific police procedures, Dohrmann added.

“We’re hoping that with two weeks and their military police background that there’ll be highly qualified police officers in our state,” Haugen said.

Haugen was a Marine police officer from 1994-98 who had to go through the then-mandatory 12-week course for North Dakota law enforcement. He found it redundant given that a lot of what he was being taught overlapped with his military experience.

He believes that military personnel are generally well-suited for civilian law-enforcement work.

“Our core function is protecting and serving the public or the military on the base where we’re stationed,” he said. “What we’re taught is essentially the same, it’s just how we go about doing it that’s different.”

From the North Dakota National Guard’s perspective, this waiver also serves as a recruitment and retention tactic, according to Dohrmann. Thanks to this initiative, an aspiring police officer can join the North Dakota National Guard, get a free education while going through basic training and then become a civilian officer 10 weeks earlier than was previously allowed.

“We really look at this as a potential win-win,” Dohrmann said. “We have a workforce shortage in North Dakota … and our hope is that with this accelerated process, we’ll get more young people interested in being a policeman.”

Dohrmann said that military training allows these officers to become “much more adaptive” to crisis situations and helps them learn to “make better decisions when under pressure.”

Like Haugen, he believes that military and civilian police officers share certain traits that make service members ideal fits for those roles once they return to the U.S.

“All that training experience that employee gets while they’re in the National Guard will make them a better employee when they get back home,” Dohrmann said.

In addition to a few downed trees on the main part of the base, Wright-Patterson had to remove 331 pounds of debris from its flight line, according to Air Force spokesman Daryl Mayer. He also said that air field operations were returned to normal soon after the May 27 tornado that ripped through Dayton.

The base’s initial evaluation estimated that 150 off-base homes at The Prairies at Wright Field were affected by the tornado. Fourteen of those homes were “deemed uninhabitable,” according to Mayer, though five of those were vacant.

“This number may climb as more problems are discovered — especially in vacant units,” he told the Military Times via email.

Mayer said that most of the damage was in privatized housing, though the streets those homes are on have been cleared of fallen trees and debris at this point. Nine families have been displaced so far due to tornado damage, according to Mayer.

“Base agencies worked with individual families to ensure they had a suitable housing alternative for them,” he said.

Wright-Patterson also set up a claims center for personnel whose homes sustained tornado damage. So far, the center has fielded 24 inquiries and has received eight claims regarding food spoilage from active-duty airmen, Mayer said.

As of Wednesday, all roads had been cleared for use and electrical services had been safely restored to the area, according to a Wright-Patterson press release.

Though water testing was expected to have been completed as of yesterday, there was still a boil advisory in effect, according to that Wednesday press release.

The “large, dangerous” tornado hit Montgomery County, Ohio, hard Monday night, causing gas lines to be shut down and killing at least one person.

The 41-year-old ex-Air Force engineer was quickly running out of her Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, and even though she has a full-time job at an engineering firm, she was having trouble paying her tuition. Thanks to UMUC’s Veterans Assistance Fund, she was able to make up the difference in her tuition and continue pursuing her Master’s degree in environmental management.

“This is just another way that they’re trying to help veterans get their educational goals,” she said. “The Veterans Assistance Fund has been more helpful than I could possibly ever relay.”

UMUC, which will change its name to University of Maryland Global Campus effective July 1, is far from the only university to have this sort of fund devoted to veterans in need of a little extra financial help. Many schools have created a veteran emergency fund to give veterans help beyond just tuition support, including paying their bills, child care or even groceries.

“We understand that we can help with tuition scholarships and help students apply for loans, but it doesn’t stop there,” said William Cole, assistant vice president of principal gifts with the University of Akron’s Department of Development. “These folks need additional help … We have mechanisms for helping those students.”

Veteran emergency funds come in varying forms and help students in different ways. For example, while UMUC provides aid through its fund by handing out grants, Akron’s Blair Family Foundation Veterans Emergency Fund gives its students interest-free loans that must be repaid when the veteran is able to do so.

Keith Hauk, UMUC’s associate vice president of veterans initiatives and military support, said that each student veteran at his school can receive up to $3,000 per year through the Veterans Assistance Fund. Since its inception in 2017, 31 UMUC students have been awarded grants totaling about $61,000, Hauk said.

“Even though $3,000 per academic year may not seem like a lot, in most cases it’s what they need to get them over the top and get them across the finish line with degree in hand or get them on track to a degree,” he said.

Rick Hansen, Oklahoma State University’s coordinator of student veteran academic services, helps oversee his university’s Veterans Emergency Fund. It’s another grant-based fund, and Hansen — who served as a Marine infantryman from 1974-96 — said that 14 students have taken advantage of it since it became available in 2016.

He said that OSU’s fund has helped veterans with issues ranging from a broken-down car that one vet didn’t have the savings to fix to child care services that a single mother couldn’t afford.

“There’s been a couple that we’ve allowed them to not get burdened with their financial problems,” Hansen said. “Once you start worrying about how you’re going to feed yourself and your family, it’s hard to study.”

One such student OSU helped through its Veterans Emergency Fund is Joshua Fisher, a 34-year-old former Army policeman and a rising junior studying business management. At the time, he was attending Northern Oklahoma College before an intended transfer to OSU.

Two of Fisher’s summer courses got cancelled last-minute, and his bills starting piling up. That’s when he turned to OSU’s Veteran Emergency Fund, which took care of those bills and allowed him to continue his education and successfully transfer to OSU.

“It’s a very helpful tool,” Fisher said. “It’s an instrumental resource that is available at Oklahoma State for the veterans. You never know when things are going to happen. Sometimes for veterans, their options are very limited. It’s keeping veteran students in school.”

Veteran emergency funds aren’t just available at public universities.

For example, the for-profit Grantham University also has a specific emergency fund for veterans that it started through its Veteran Support Team. Ryan Yeager, a Grantham veteran support coordinator and a former Army helicopter mechanic, said that this fund can only be used for personal or familial reasons (as opposed to academic ones) and aid usually comes in the form of $400-$500 Walmart gift cards.

Since Grantham’s fund was established in 2017, nine students have received more than $3,100 in assistance, according to Yeager.

“Sometimes we find ourselves in these situations and it’s very humbling and our pride can get in the way,” he said. “The reason you’re attending college is that you know there’s something better out there. Life happens and you found yourself in a bad spot, and we can extend a hand to you.”

There are plenty of other schools that also have a veteran emergency fund, including Jackson College’s Veteran Student Emergency Fund and the grants the University of Houston — Downtown gives out through the Hamill Foundation.

A veteran emergency fund can literally be the difference between whether a veteran can afford to earn a degree or not.

“It’s been a lifesaver,” Carson said. “I think anyone that’s eligible should be looking into it.”

It can be difficult for veterans to make their friends and family fully understand what they went through while deployed. A new stage play is trying to help bridge that comprehension gap.

“Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret” is currently on a 20-city national tour, including three shows this Memorial Day Weekend on May 24-25 at Northern Virginia Community College’s campus in Annandale, Va. The play follows Master Sgt. Danny Patton on a journey back through his life after he is mortally wounded.

“It seems like all the stories these days are about the first stand,” said Scott Mann, the show’s playwright, star and a Green Beret veteran. “You usually don’t hear the stories about the last out … and that’s what this play is really about, the universal story of the ‘long war.’”

The show features four military-affiliated actors playing 13 different characters who reveal more and more about Danny’s experiences before and after he became a Green Beret. All the proceeds it earns go to The Heroes Journey, a nonprofit founded by Mann and his wife Monty dedicated to giving veterans the confidence and tools to tell their own stories.

In “Last Out,” audiences get to see both Danny’s civilian life and relive the traumatic experiences he went through as a Green Beret while he is trapped in a no-man’s land between his fire base in Afghanistan and his family’s living room back home.

“It’s representative of the purgatory so many warriors are in,” Mann said. “When you’re at home you’re wishing you’re at combat, and when you’re at combat you’re wishing you’re at home.”

There are only four actors in the whole show, including Mann, who spent 18 of his 23 years in the Army as a Green Beret; Bryan Bachman, a former Army paratrooper; Leonard Bruce, also a former Green Beret; and Ame Livingston, the play’s director and a military family member.

Green Berets are like “a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia,” as Mann put it, in that their main job is to parachute behind enemy lines and work with indigenous people to help them stand up to their oppressors. He did that all over the world during his time as a Green Beret in places like Ecuador, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Peru and Panama. He helped create a program, called the Afghan Local Police/Village Stability Operations, designed to teach Afghans to create a local bulwark against the Taliban. And he published “Game Changers,” a book about how this and similar programs can be made to work.

Mann joined the Army in 1996, but was profoundly affected by 9/11 after his best friend Cliff Patterson was killed in the attack on the Pentagon. It led him down a dark path both during and after his service. Storytelling helped Mann reconnect with himself and the world, and he hopes to do the same for others with “Last Out.”

He said he wrote this show both to “inform civilians” about the horrors service members endured while at war and “heal veterans” through validating their experiences in the form of live theater. Mann said that he loves bringing together audiences full of civilians, active-duty personnel, veterans, Gold Star families and more.

“Everyone in that room feels like they’ve gone to war with Master Sgt. Danny Patton,” he said.

He is also particularly pleased with the way his show portrays military families, which he believes is another victory for theatrical military representation.

“You really get an honest look at what this life is like trying to get through deployment after deployment,” he said.

What he’s most proud of, though, are the veterans who have told him they feel seen after watching “Last Out” and the sister of a Green Beret who told him that she learned more about her brother’s military-induced trauma in 85 minutes than she did in five years of him trying to explain it to her.

“Whether you’ve served in the military or not, it will really help you better understand the impact of war,” Mann said.

That’s how many members of the 5307th Composite Unit Provisional — better known as “Merrill’s Marauders”— are still alive.

Two of the men who helped fight the Japanese in Burma — Bob Passanisi, 94, and Gilbert Howland, 96 — were recently in Washington, D.C., for a wreath-laying ceremony at the WWII Memorial to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Burma mission.

They were also in D.C. to champion legislation that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to Merrill’s Marauders for their heroism and sacrifices that resulted in the U.S. seizing control of the Burmese capital of Myitkyina.

“I am proud of our unit and the mission we accomplished in Burma,” Howland told the Military Times via email. “We did not see ourselves as heroes. We had volunteered for a mission and we handled every situation that came our way. The end result tells how we did.”

The Marauders — which was named after their commander, Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill — traversed more than 800 miles of Burmese jungle and engaged in multiple battles with enemy troops. By the time they were deactivated on Aug. 10, 1944, the unit had lost more than 1,000 soldiers to both combat injuries and disease.

“For some unexplained reason, these men from all walks of life fused together as a single determined fighting force,” said Passanisi, also via email. “Everyone seemed to know just what to do without needing to be told.”

Passanisi was inspired to join the Army in 1942 following the attack on the U.S. Navy base in Pearl Harbor. He currently serves as the Marauders’ spokesperson and historian.

“I always felt proud that I was a Merrill’s Marauder, and even prouder today that people seem to recognize what an impossible mission the Marauder campaign was,” said Passanisi, who lives in New York.

Howland was attending Boston Trade School when news of unrest in Europe and Asia began reaching the U.S. He happened to come across a military-recruitment poster outside the South Boston Post Office in 1941 on his 18th birthday. After talking to his mother, he decided to enlist in the Army and help the war effort.

After the Marauders dissolved, he continued to serve his country during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He earned a triple Combat Infantryman Badge for his continued service.

“The military was my life,” Howland, who now lives in New Jersey, said. “The military taught me to have pride in the job you are doing and that carried over into my civilian life.”

Both still vividly remember some of the more harrowing moments of the Burmese campaign.

Passanisi distinctly remembered narrowly dodging an artillery shell attack on his command post. He said that he “made an unbelievable dive for my fox hole” and traveled 20 feet in one motion while dirt from the blast grazed his jungle boots.

Howland is still haunted by the Battle of Nphum Ga where the Japanese surrounded his battalion for 10 days. He was wounded on the fifth day and had to be moved away from his post. That night, Japanese troops got into his machine-gun position and killed the four-man crew on duty.

“I was not there to protect them and that has stayed with me all these years,” Howland said.

Despite all they went through, Passanisi and Howland are both still humbled by the Marauders’ place in WWII history, including that the 75th Army Regiment still wears their colors on their crest and “considers us their legacy unit,” according to Howland.

“That others continue to recognize what we did in Burma and they honor us for it, [which] makes me proud,” Howland said.

For Passanisi, Merrill’s Marauders is proof that “humans can endure much more than was thought to be possible.”

Both men had advice for active-duty service members and their fellow veterans.

“Always be ready and train well,” Howland said. “Take it seriously. You never know when your country will need you.”

On a similar note, Passanisi advised troops and veterans that determination and grit will allow them to “find the inner strength to be stronger and more durable than you can imagine.”

Spoken like a true Merrill’s Marauder.

The United Service Organizations, American Veterans and Operation FINALLY HOME can now all connect the veterans they work with to the resources Lowe’s has in place for job training, affordable housing and educational scholarships.

“We look forward to working closely with each organization to serve the military community through programs focused on safe, affordable housing and transitioning military into dynamic careers,” said Joe McFarland, executive vice president at Lowe’s and a Marine Corps veteran, in a press release.

Each organization brings something different to the table in its partnership with Lowe’s.

USO, for example, will provide service members and their spouses with “interactive workshops and networking opportunities designed to help them land apprenticeships and jobs in the skills trade,” said USO Chief Development and Marketing Officer Lisa Anastasi in the same press release.

AMVETS plans to contribute “scholarships and workforce training,” according to the press release. It plans to reach 3 million veterans through this partnership with Lowe’s, said AMVETS National Commander Rege Riley in that press release.

“With Lowe’s, we’re looking to close the gap and offer scholarships and programs that place the military in highly trained positions,” Riley said.

Lastly, there’s Operation FINALLY HOME, which specializes in making sure veterans have mortgage-free homes with the custom-built amenities they need to live comfortably. Lowe’s will be helping FINALLY HOME with some of its projects via home-building and modification support.

“Lowe’s is an outstanding fit as we continue to bring builders, developers and volunteers together to help our heroes and their families,” said Rusty Carroll, FINALLY HOME executive director, in the press release.

Lowe’s was founded by a WWII veteran in 1946. It currently offers a 10 percent discount to active-duty troops and veterans.

While soldiers still must serve for six years before being allowed to request a GI Bill transfer, they will no longer have the opportunity to do so after they have served longer than 16 years.

This new rule will affect senior active-duty personnel and those who for whatever reason are unable to transfer any portion of their benefits to one or more dependents before that July 12 deadline.

“It’s a policy change that we knew could be implemented,” said Anthony Lowe, Veterans of Foreign Wars’ director of administration and economic opportunity. “Now it’s everyone’s responsibility to educate and inform the affected service members.”

The GI Bill transfer rules had been previously amended in 2018 so that troops with more than 10 years in uniform could no longer be excepted from a four-year service commitment if they wanted to transfer their benefits, including those who were forced into mandatory retirement.

Christopher Arendt, deputy director of accession policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, urged active-duty personnel approaching 16 years in uniform to make sure they are registered via the education-benefit transfer portal on MilConnect. Otherwise, they won’t be able to transfer any benefits at all.

He also advised those troops to double check that all the dependents who could potentially receive their benefits are registered as well.

“You never know which dependent is going to be the one to use it, so the registration of all applicable dependents is an important element,” Arendt said.

Lowe said that troops should transfer at least one month of benefits to eligible dependents before July 12 so they can still “transfer it back and forth after retirement and separation.” A Defense Department spokeswoman also recommended transferring at least one month of benefits to all eligible family members for that same purpose.

In addition, Lowe said that troops should contact their local military education offices and have professionals walk them through the transfer procedures so “that way they’re smart on the process.”

John Kamin, the American Legion’s assistant director of veterans employment and education, wants soldiers to make sure they know exactly how many years they’ve served on active duty, information that becomes increasingly important to know come July 12. He also said that MilConnect can sometimes be more reliable for that than military career counselors.

“It’s important because we’ve heard stories of even retention NCOs having incorrect information on this and providing wrong advice,” he said. “Your best bet is to go straight to the source.”

Ardendt said that the Pentagon decided to enact these changes as a recruiting tactic to keep more folks who want to transfer their benefits in uniform for a few more years.

“Once you become eligible, you need to consider this as a retention benefit,” Arendt said. “This is one of those options you have when you’re getting ready to re-enlist, in order to have a benefit.”

He also said that the Pentagon estimates that transferred benefits come out to an average of $22,805 per academic year, a “pretty significant sum of money.”

Some folks on Capitol Hill and who work for veteran-service organizations aren’t happy with the rule changes, claiming that the 16-year cap on transferring benefits feels arbitrary.

“We believe that these service members have earned the right to transfer their benefits based on years in service,” Kamin said. “The idea that serving too long can disqualify you seems absurd.”

The one DoD-enacted change that received the most positive reception was the Pentagon’s September announcement that service members wounded in combat would not be subject to that 16-year transfer limit nor would they have to commit to more service time in order to transfer their benefits.

“We are pleased that DoD was able to exclude those Purple Hearts and their ability to transfer their benefits to their dependents,” said Derek Fronabarger, the Wounded Warrior Project’s direct of legislative affairs. “That’s something that WWP advocated for and we’re happy DoD understood.”

There’s a small chance that congressional legislation might loosen these restrictions. In November, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. and now a presidential candidate, introduced the Veteran Education and Transfer Extension Act, which would allow veterans who did not have dependents when they left the military to transfer their benefits should they get married or have children later in life.

One legislator who would like to see the transfer rules at least softened is Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., who wrote an op-ed for Rebootcamp last August calling the new age cap on transferring benefits “a damaging and dangerous precedent.”

“We’re all unhappy with [the decision] and criticized it,” he said recently.

Courtney said that “there’s certainly going to be some sort of amendment offered” that would either curb or end this transfer rules change at some point. For now, he urged members of the military community to call their senators and representatives and urge them to pressure the Pentagon about easing up on its transfer policies.

“[W]e’re doing our best to try to surgically focus on the most doable fix that we possibly can,” he said.

Alex Greenlee, 24, was charged Wednesday with five counts of voyeurism after a four-month investigation by the Federal Protective Service into hidden cameras found in the same women’s restroom at a VA office near the White House, according to court documents discovered by NBC News.

“VA immediately notified law enforcement after learning about this abhorrent behavior,” Susan Carter, the VA’s director of media relations, told the Military Times in an emailed statement. “VA has begun the process for firing this individual.”

The VA would not specify what Greenlee’s job was at this D.C. office.

Five women were recorded on those cameras, one of whom appeared multiple times, according to an affidavit obtained by NBC News.

On Jan. 25, a woman at this VA office discovered a camera underneath a bathroom stall, according to those court documents.

She told investigators that she saw Greenlee leaving that women’s restroom on the building’s 12th floor and, when she pressed him on what he was doing in there, he told her there were no paper towels in the men’s restroom.

The same woman also caught Greenlee loitering outside that women’s restroom on his cell phone, and on that occasion, he asked her if she was OK and for permission to enter the restroom to obtain paper towels.

Authorities seized the first camera on Jan. 25 and then were informed of the second one three days later when another woman found it on the underside of a toilet in the same restroom, according to the affidavit.

Greenlee initially told investigators that he knew nothing about the cameras, but upon inspection, the cameras provided evidence of him placing them in the stalls, according to the affidavit. That led to a follow-up interview in April and his Tuesday arrest.

He was released on personal recognizance and his initial status hearing was scheduled for June 25. Greenlee could receive a year in prison plus a $2,500 fine if convicted, according to NBC News.

The State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has been overseeing a program that trains military dogs to detect explosive devices such as mines and improvised explosive devices. Dozens of canines have been sent to places like Iraq and Syria to sniff out explosives, and their efforts have helped make those areas safer for humans and animals alike.

Three of those dogs just returned to the U.S. from Iraq and are currently being rehabilitated for adoption by Mission K9 Rescue, a nonprofit partner of the State Department that teaches service dogs how to be house pets once they are retired from duty.

“These dogs have served our citizens, our first-responders, our soldiers, our men and women on the front line,” said Kristen Maurer, Mission K9 Rescue’s president and founder. “They’re out there saving lives every single day. They’ve done this their whole lives, and it’s their time to retire and our time to give back to them.”

The three dogs in question — Der, Rhino and Rambo, all of who happen to be four-year-old Belgian Malinois — are all currently enjoying their own 30-by-30 plots of land on Mission K9 Rescue’s ranch in Houston. The goal is to get them ready for adoption as quickly as possible.

“It’s kind of like a dog paradise,” said Mollie Davis, a State Department public engagement and partnerships specialist. “These three guys here have [earned] a soft spot from all of us in this office … It’s a really exciting project and something that makes us feel really good.”

Jerry Guilbert, chief of programs in the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, said dogs have been frequently deployed to Iraq and Syria to identify the booby traps set up by the Islamic State. These dogs can sniff explosive devices from outside of buildings, which at least partially minimizes the danger to themselves and their human coworkers.

With the help of these animals, 80,000 explosives have been cleared in areas of Iraq and Syria that were liberated from the Islamic State’s control, according to Guilbert. Their work has been essential as the military attempts to restore vital services to these cities, including clean water, electricity, schools and hospitals.

Guilbert could only recall one explosive-sniffing dog who was killed in action while deployed.

“That’s because they’re really good at what they do,” he said. “And the training regiments that make these dogs so effective are highly effective.”

Now that their watch has ended, Der, Rhino and Rambo are being reminded how to act in a non-military setting via Mission K9 Rescue.

“We do the best we can to make them feel safe … and make them feel secure, learn what their triggers are and try to work around them,” said Louisa Kastner, Mission K9 Rescue’s vice president.

Kastner said that the training each dog receives depends on what the organization perceives to be their biggest obstacle toward adoption. That could mean a variety of things, including a need for them them to be less aggressive toward toys, less timid around loud noises or more comfortable around other dogs.

Once Mission K9 Rescue deems them ready for adoption, anyone interested will have to go through a strict application process to prove themselves worthy dog parents. That includes making sure that the prospective owner isn’t looking for a service dog, according to Kastner.

“These dogs have served, and a lot of them have PTSD themselves,” she said. “We want them just to have a retirement. We don’t want them to have to go to work again.”

Despite the difficulties involved in re-acclimating military dogs to a more relaxed civilian environment, Kastner isn’t worried about getting these dogs adopted.

“I don’t think it’ll be hard at all,” she said. “I think it’s just a matter of finding the right home.”