Photos by Karen Rase | Greene County News
SSgt. Pablo Gonzalez poses with his former military working dog Morgen, who retired on Friday.
Lt. Col. Nicole Schatz and Tech Sergeant Eric Robertson, trainer at the military working dogs kennel, bestow a certificate of retirement and a meritorius service medal to Morgen, while his handler, SSgt. Gonzales, looks on.
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Morgen, a long-time military working dog, got his last batch of treats from his coworkers Friday. The 8-year-old German Shepherd retired from the 88th Security Forces Squadron after eight years of service
Throughout his military service, Morgen conducted daily random anti-terrorism sweeps throughout the installation, ensuring the safety of the community and resources. He executed more than 3,000 random anti-terrorism measures, walking patrols, vehicle searches, VIP sweeps,and numerous other duty related jobs.
He has been deployed twice oversees where he supported the Department of Defense, Joint Services Branches, and the United States Secret Service with explosive detection.
“During his eight long years, Morgen has done his due diligence for us,” said Lt. Col. Nicole Schatz. 88th Security Forces Squadron commander. “Now he can be a couch dog. Thank you for being a volunteer and a teammate.”
His handler, Staff Sergeant Pablo Gonzalez, just separated from the Air Force after six years and has moved to Georgia and is able to take the retiring canine with him.
“He’s my best friend and we keep each other company,” said Gonzalez, who has been deployed as far away as West Africa with Morgen.
Gonzales met Morgen when he was deployed to Wright-Patterson in 2019. He had already completed handler’s training at a canine school at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas. He was teamed with Morgen at Wright-Patterson and soon learned Morgen’s special talents laid in detection and sniffing out explosives.
A group out of Texas, Mission Canine Rescue, has been helping reunite Gonzalez and Morgen for their relocation to Georgia.
Until his retirement on Friday, Morgen was kept in a kennel on base and only left the kennel to go on missions or for training. Now he’ll get to live with his handler in a relaxed environment since Gonzalez will be working from home.
“He knows a lot of commands but not the usual ‘shake paw’ or ‘roll over.’ His are more tactical like ‘bite and release’ because he was trained to restrain,” Gonzalez said.
Now Morgen will get to interact with a new dog friend “stepsister” Georgia.
“I think the two will be just fine,” said Gonzalez, “I’m looking forward to it.”
