U.S. Army veteran Staff Sgt. James Harrington

Staff Sgt. James Harrington, pictured above, and his specialized Improvised Detection dog Ryky served four years together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their job was to locate explosives keeping countless soldiers and civilians safe. 

On July 6, 2011 Ryky, with her handler Sgt. James Harrington, while traveling in a convoy were involved in an IED attack resulting in severe injury to two personnel in the lead vehicle. Without regard to their safety Ryky and Sgt. Harrington exited their vehicle and cleared a path to the damaged lead vehicle allowing medical personnel to render first aid to the two wounded soldiers. Ryky and Sgt. Harrington then cleared a safe path out of the ambush site and cleared a landing area for a medevac helicopter to land and evacuate the wounded soldiers.
On January 24, 2012 Sgt. Harrington and Ryky were awarded The Bronze Star Medal for their exceptionally meritorious service supporting operational enduring freedom.
Canine Ryky was then recognized by K9's of the War on Terror and was awarded the K9 Medal for Exceptional Service.

FOUNDER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

jEFF HIEBERT

Hello,

I am the Founder and Executive Director at the Returning Soldier Initiatve.  I have worked in law enforcemnt for over 30-years and well as trained and deployed search and rescue dogs since 1989.  The RSI was born out of the actions of military personal that reached out wanting to continue to give to their communities.  Some of these individuals gave so much but want to give more by volunteering to find missing people.  Many of them were military working dog handlers and want to contnue with the parntership they had with canines while deployed.  Some veterans just wanted to work with a dog and others were looking for another team to join.  We have assisted teams from all across the country.  Tese highly trained people are great assessts for local search and rescue dog teams. We marry veterans with local SAR teams, we have provided puppies, training and equipment so they can enter the search.

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jEFF HIEBERT

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