Commander Joe — A True American Hero.

Who happens to be a dog.

Published in

Homeland Security

4 min readFeb 29, 2016

The heroic Commander Joe and Lt. Commander Tracy Krauss

How do you define “hero”? Is someone who saves someone else’ life a hero? How about someone who helps their brothers and sisters cope with literally killing stress? Then Commander Joe is clearly a hero. He also happens to be a dog — the only stress-sniffing dog in the U.S. Navy.

Commander Joe is a one-of-a-kind black and tan Labrador who was trained by the non-profit Southeastern Guide Dogs (https://www.guidedogs.org/).

Commander Joe works at the Naval Branch Health Clinic NAF Washington. He makes his rounds several times each day, and when he identifies someone in emotional distress he will lay in front of that person until he is told it OK to leave. According to Commander Joe’s handler, Lt. Commander Tracy Krauss, the dog’s mere presence is often enough to get soldiers to open up and talk about the things that are troubling them.

Commander Joe has an impeccable track record: he has identified at more than 47 soldiers in distress, seven of which had suicide plans. Once while traveling through an airport the Commander was able to locate a man who had just been a victim in the Boston Marathon bombing. No one is exactly sure how Commander Joe does what he does; Lt. Cmdr. Krauss believe that Joe can smell stress pheromones.

However Commander Joe’s ability works it is much needed in today’s military. In February 2016 the Department of Defense released the 2014 Department of Defense Suicide Event Report. According to this report in calendar year 2014 there were 269 deaths attributable to suicide in the active military and 169 deaths in the reserves. Even these horrific numbers are a fraction of the number of attempted suicides in 2014: 1126.
http://t2health.dcoe.mil/sites/default/files/CY-2014-DoDSER-Annual-Report.pdf

The profile of the service members who attempted suicide might surprise you. Most were:
Male
Caucasian of Non-Hispanic ethnicity
Under 30 years of age
Enlisted (as opposed to officers)

Almost 70% of the suicides were by firearm, and another 25% were by hanging.

Mental and behavioral health issues identified in the report include:
Mood (just over 25%)
Adjustment Disorders (also about 25%)
Failed relationships (42%)
About 1/3 had administrative or legal issues in the 3 months prior to suicide

Only about half of those who committed suicide (54.4% to be exact) had a history of deployment

Clearly our service men and women are dealing with serious issues, and the Department of Defense (DoD) needs to do all it can to get people the help that they need. Lt. Commander Krauss emphasized that Commander Joe, as remarkable as he is, is only part of the solution. The amazing dog helps identify people in need, but it takes other people to see to those needs. More must be done to lessen the stigma of seeking mental health assistance, and the DoD must continue to improve its mental health care system.
In the meantime Commander Joe is a hero who continues to help save other heroes’ lives.