By Rebecca Frankel
Best Defense chief
canine correspondent
Before he went to war, Sgt. James Ide told his wife, Mandy, how he
wanted the news of his death delivered to friends and family in the event that
he was killed while on tour in Afghanistan. And on Aug. 29 she posted the
following note on her facebook page:
I do not know what to say, but
this is the way Jimmy asked me to tell his friends. Jimmy passed away this
morning. He died in combat in [Afghanistan]. Jimmy loved his job and if he
could choose a way to go this would be it."
Sgt. Ide's unit had been
"attacked with small arms fire near Hyderabad, Helmand Province, Afghanistan,"
and he succumbed to the wounds he received during the onslaught. Ide, who had
also served a tour in Korea and two others in Iraq, is described by
family and friends a lover of animals who "enjoyed writing poetry and riding
motorcycles and was endlessly curious about the world." The 32-year-old handler
is survived by
his wife, their two small children, and Ddaphne the bomb-sniffing dog who was
on patrol with him the day he died.
Ddaphne, a five-year-old Belgian Malinois who loves to fetch, was
with Ide for four years and was "always at his side." Though the dog made it
through the late August attack that killed her trainer, but she suffered severe
PTSD as a result of the ordeal and the military decided she had to retire from
service.
When Mandy Ide heard that Ddaphne "had not been hurt in the attack
that killed her husband, she had no doubt that she wanted Ddaphne with her and
the children. ... 'It's the last connection to him.'"
And last week Ddaphne arrived in Festus, Missouri, to join her
rightful home with the Ides. But it was months about before Ddpahne was
family-ready. First, she had to recover from the stress of the attack and to
shed the rigorous life as an IED detection dog. As Army Staff Sgt. Skipper
Green, a kennel master and buddy of Sgt. Ide's, who trained Ddaphne these last
few months, said: "It was letting her realize she didn't have to be on
guard, letting her relax."
Reportedly,
Ddaphne is taking to her new lifestyle with tremendous ease -- she's been
playing fetch with the Ide's two-year-old son, Jas, who was named after his
father. It was a good fit from the start. Mandy Ide went to visit Ddaphne with
Jas the night the dog arrived in the country and posted this message on her Facebook
page:
Me and Jas got to hang out with Ddaphne last night and it went
AMAZING. She did so well with us. I can't wait to have her home with me."
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