It’s time for Meggan Monday and today Meggan is introducing us to a young Seabee who formed a bond with a sweet pup while on deployment and how he brought her to the states so she could have a forever home.
Today we want to introduce you to a special pair: Will Mechtly and his dog, Stinky. Will, a builder with NMCB 11 stationed at the Gulfport Seabee Base, was deployed to Morocco as part of a 15-man team when a stray dog approached and stole his heart.
“So Stinky actually found us when we were out there. We were all on a commando base and when she came to us she was pretty skinny and had some cuts and she smelled pretty bad and that is how she got her name — which stuck — and then over six months of having Stinky by our side, my det and I kind of took her under our wing, feeding her scrap MREs and taking her to the vet and giving her some much needed baths … and then over those six months, when it was time to go home, we decided that she was going to come home with us.”
“You know, from when I first met her, she was kind of skittish at first, but not as much as the other dogs. And so, she kind of picked us and we kind of took her under our wing, taking care of her. The trust building kind of came from her, really … And as much as we took care of her on Det Morocco, she really took care of us, during the holidays and being away from family. She really boosted the morale of everyone out there. There were 15 of us in Det Morocco and everyone fell in love with her and we all wanted to fight to get her back as much as possible.”
“And then that’s when I got in touch with the SPCA International, which is an organization for active-duty military to bring back deployment dogs or deployment pets. And they helped me out the entire way. It took about a year. Usually, I think it’s faster, but kind of COVID slowed down the whole process and also Morocco had a pretty big earthquake, so. They took care of everything — her travel, her vet bills, they spayed her.”
“She is pretty stubborn, but she does know how to go into her crate on her own and she will sit and give me her paw. That’s pretty much it. But she did come potty trained, so big shout out to Moroccan Animal Aid. They’re the ones who watched her, took care of her during the process of getting her back to the States. And they house trained her for me and she’s really enjoying retirement now.”
“There were some arguments over who got her. Everyone wanted Stinky, so … Everyone loved her. I take her into work sometimes and everyone says Hi to her and they also come to visit her.”
In addition to Stinky, Will also has a Golden Doodle named Kilo. He said he is moving to a teaching position for the next three years, so he won’t have to worry about deployments any time soon. Stinky and Kilo will have dad home full time.
