CONGRESSMAN GONZALEZ INTRODUCES SGT. FIELDY ACT, ALLOWING MILITARY WORKING DOGS TO BE BURIED IN NATIONAL CEMETERIES 

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) introduced H.R. 9152, the Sgt. Fieldy Act, which would allow military working dogs to be buried in national and certain state veteran cemeteries.

Congressman Gonzalez named this bill in honor of Sgt. Fieldy, who served three tours in Afghanistan and now lives in South Texas with his handler U.S. Marine Corps Corporal Nicolas Caceres. During deployment, Sgt. Fiedly detected several explosives, saving the lives of many others. In 2016, Sgt. Fieldy received the K9 Medal of Courage Award on Capitol Hill. And in 2018, he was selected as the Military Hero Dog, in the Hero Dog Awards. Cpl. Caceres was recently informed Fieldy—now 15 years old—is unable to be buried in the veteran's cemetery in Mission, Texas.

"In the face of danger, we depended on each other, and he led the way, he knew when he was needed and without hesitation, he picked his head up, stepped forward to the task, his only reward was not a medal but a touch by my hand," stated Cpl. Caceres. Faithfully he led the way and we followed, till the end we will follow, till the end.

"Since the inception of our nation, dogs have played a pivotal role in the protection of our nation. Yet they are not honored alongside our brave men and women in uniform", stated Congressman Gonzalez."Military working dogs go through many hours of training and have saved countless lives by detecting explosives and leading search and rescue missions abroad. I am proud to file this legislation and name it after South Texas' very own hero, Sgt. Fieldy."

More information on the bill can be found here.

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