Poland thanks military dogs for their service by giving them army ranks

NOWY DWOR MAZOWIECKI, Poland — The new privates received their ranks amid military pomp in a town near Warsaw where a Napoleonic fortress attests to a long military history. Gen. Wiesław Kukuła, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, decided last year that dogs serving in the Polish army would qualify for six military ranks ranging from private through corporal to sergeant. “The rank is meant to honor the hard work of the dog in service,” said Lance Corporal Daniel Kęsicki, who recently completed a five-month training course with Eliot, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois. “To me it’s a symbolic recognition that the dog is serving the homeland.” The dogs honored Friday belong to the 2nd Mazovian Engineer Regiment, which in 2007 became the first unit of Poland’s armed forces to introduce dogs into service, according to spokesman Capt. Polish army dogs have carried out service elsewhere in international missions, including Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the NATO nation’s support for U.S.-led efforts.