Kansas City veteran goes social to reunite with his former service dog

LACKLAND AFB, Texas - Social media helped a Kansas City veteran reunite with his former partner – a bomb-sniffing dog named Diego.

Logan Black, an Iraq veteran in Kansas City and Diego’s former handler, had not seen Diego in years. He began a social media campaign several months ago to help locate the dog.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill took notice and intervened with the Air Force to help find Diego and to set in motion the path for the the bomb-sniffing yellow lab to be returned to his former handler upon Diego’s  retirement from military service.

"I work every day to make sure our veterans get the benefits they’ve earned, it’s good to remember that sometimes those benefits aren’t just health care or tuition,” said McCaskill, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the daughter of a World War II veteran.

Diego was first believed to be retired from active service and working with the Transportation Security Administration, but McCaskill was able to confirm that Diego was at Lackland Air Force Base serving the Department of Defense as a training partner for new dog handlers.

This week, Diego was retired and officially adopted by Black, who reunited with him in Texas, and is now returning home with his friend.