Meet K9 Callie: Four-legged hero helped recover Kentucky flood victims
A four-legged hero is back in Louisville after helping recover victims from the eastern Kentucky flooding.
K9 Callie is the first search and rescue dog in the entire U.S. Military and an official member of the Kentucky Air National Guard.
The 5-year-old Dutch Shepherd returned to the 123rd Airlift Wing after spending 36 hours searching for missing people in the eastern Kentucky floodwaters.
K9 Callie's handler, Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons, said she helped lead the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron to recover the bodies of four young siblings who were swept away from their Knott County home.
"We've been deployed a few times in Kentucky, some out of Kentucky," Parsons said. "Sadly, our use so far has been in recovering deceased individuals in these situations."
Parsons said K9 Callie also helped speed up the search and rescue mission in Mayfield, after deadly tornadoes touched down in December.
"What I see when I look at Callie is just the ability to do my job better of rescuing people," he said.
Parsons revolutionized the U.S. Military when he came up with the idea to train a search and rescue dog to work alongside the Kentucky Air National Guard. He pitched the idea in 2018 and has been K9 Callie's handler since.
Video: Residents recall harrowing moments during eastern Kentucky floods
"Seeing her work ethic, I knew this was the dog to start a program like this where we'd be kind of changing the game by jumping in search and rescue dogs into some austere locations," Parsons said.
While Callie is the first U.S. Military K9, she will not be the last. A Belgian Malinois is next in line to join the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron by mid-2023.
K9 Pits is only eleven months old, but will soon follow in Callie's footsteps. Parsons is training her now to save more people if disaster strikes.