It was a sad parting when Sgt. Jason Bos left Fort Lee in Virginia nearly two years ago and had to say goodbye to MWD Cila M389, the bomb-sniffing chocolate Lab he called Cici.
Over nearly five years, Bos and Cila — MWD stands for Military Working Dog, and M389 is the identification number tattooed in her ear — had forged a bond as they searched for roadside bombs and hidden weapons caches in Iraq, and screened sites for presidential visits across the U.S. Their partnership ended when a back injury forced Bos to leave the Army in 2012.
Cila was just 5 years old, and still had time to serve as a military dog. While Bos headed home to Michigan, Cila remained on active duty.
Bos, 33, did not know if he’d ever reunite with Cila. But a month ago, he saw on Facebook that Cila was due to be retired. He was thrilled when the kennel master at his former base contacted him to see if he wanted to adopt her.
“I said ‘Yes. What do I have to do?’” Bos said.
After filling out the paperwork, Bos contacted American Humane Association and Mission K9 Rescue for help with the expense of bringing Cila from Germany
On Wednesday, after a nine hour flight, Cila stepped out of a travel carrier at O’Hare International Airport, where a somewhat nervous Bos was waiting.
“I hope she remembers my voice,” he said day earlier from his home near Grand Rapids.
Any concerns were quickly erased as Cila leapt into her old partner’s arms. “Cici! Hi baby,” Bos yelled. The excited Lab rolled on her back and Bos gave her a good belly rub.
“She looked at me, she started smelling me, she knew me,” Bos said later.
How could she not? Bos and Cila trained together for months at the military kennel at Lackland Air Force Base, then served multiple overseas deployments starting in 2008. Cila was specially trained to sniff out explosives while off leash, responding to Bos’s shouted commands and hand signals as he and other soldiers trailed dozens of yards away.
While on base, Bos often spent his off-duty time playing with Cila at the kennel. On stateside duty, like checking the site of a presidential visit, the handlers and their dogs bunk together in hotels.
“They tell you not to get too attached, that they’re not a pet, they’re a tool to help keep people safe,” he said. “But it’s hard.”
But when the time comes for a soldier to go home, the specially trained dogs usually stay behind. Typically, a dog’s hitch in the military lasts until it can no longer work, at least seven years.
That’s what Bos was told when he asked if he could take Cila home with him after he suffered an injury in training. Back in Michigan, he has been taking business classes at a college near the home he shares with his brother.
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