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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2019 P117 and I'd let people try to pet him and he'd try to bite them. After a while, he started going, 'Well that's not so bad. That kinda feels good to get my ear scratched by someone I don't know.' So after a while, he got calm and I pulled the muzzle off, and I started let- ting people very carefully pet him. It took about three years and he's my family pet now." Seeing Bullet sprawled casu- ally on the salt at David's feet as he told the story, it was hard to believe he was talking about the same dog. "You can pet him. He's totally fine," David said. I kneeled down and gave Bullet a friendly ear scratch. I asked if the vest he was wearing was a calm- ing device (like anxiety vests you can buy for dogs). "No, that's so I can carry his shoes and his ball and all his toys and stuff around," David replied. The ball is extremely important to Bullet, and as David described, it's what motivated his years of service as an explosives K9. "His reward for finding explosives was he got to play with one of these." David pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket. "Watch this dog change. "Bullet, you want this?" David bounced the ball on the ground. Bullet immediately scrambled to his feet, his attention trained on the ball. David bounced the ball to Bullet, who snapped it up and plopped down on the ground to enjoy his reward. "He loves that ball. He did ev- erything he did in Afghanistan for the joy of playing with that ball." Adding up eight years of ser- vice and three years of rehabilita- tion, I began to mentally calculate how old Bullet must be. "He's 14 years old," David said as I gaped. "He's getting old now. But he's looking good!" Everything about Bullet is pret- ty remarkable, a sentiment that David Scott agrees with. "This guy's my best friend," he said with a tone of affection you rarely expect to hear from a hardened veteran of his caliber. I wondered aloud how sorry I'd feel for the poor soul who ever tried to threaten David. Funny story, it actually happened. David regaled me with a tale of a would- be thief that made an incredibly bad decision one night by break- ing into his Fresno home. Bullet handled the situation exactly how you'd expect a retired war dog with PTSD to do, and was in the process of giving the intruder his Darwin Award when David ran into the room. He gave the com- mand to release, which Bullet promptly did, but he remained fixed on the bad guy, awaiting any flinch or gesture that would permit him to carry out his duty. "I'm going to go get my gun, but I'm going to leave him here with you," David recalls telling the intruder. "If I were you, I wouldn't move." Bullet stood watch over the thief (who didn't dare move an inch) until the police arrived. Who's a good boy? We returned to Bonneville in 2019, and the day before the meet we were dining at the local Mexican restaurant, where you will always find the land-speed racing crowd. Familiar faces continued to file in as we dined on tacos, and I was thrilled to see one in particular as he strode through the door—Bullet! I rushed over to greet Bullet and David, amazed to see Bullet still looking sprightly, now at 15 years young! David beamed as I gushed over Bullet, telling him how great it was to see them both again, remarking, yet again, about his incredible story. At the end of our meal we asked for the check, but were told it had already been taken care of by "the guy with the dog." I went over to thank David, who sat at the corner table with his best pal lounging at his feet. He simply smiled and replied, "Thank you for loving my Bullet." While not many people can take on the task of rehabilitating a psychologically distressed war canine the way David Scott did, we can all donate to the organi- zations that do, such as Mission K9 Rescue and the Warrior Dog Foundation. Check them out, and make a donation in Bullet's name to help take care of dogs like him. CN https://missionk9rescue.org/ https://warriordogfoundation.org/