An Army veteran who was given a purple heart for his service said on Fox & Friends Monday that he would give his Purple Heart to the heroic military dog who helped take down Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Gade directly addressed President Donald Trump in the Monday interview, saying that he would give the dog his Purple Heart if the president did not award the dog the medal.
“Look, these dogs are heroic. The president’s instincts are right and right on the Purple Heart medal it says, ‘The President of the United States,’” Gade explained, disagreeing with the Pentagon’s policy on the matter that states that dogs cannot receive Purple Hearts.
“If the Pentagon says that he can’t do it, guess what, he’s the president and I think he can and should do it,” Gade added.
Other veterans have agreed with Gade, saying that the military K-9 should receive a Purple Heart for his actions.
The brave dog named Conan is set to leave the Middle East for a visit to the White House sometime next week, according to a Thursday tweet from Trump, which had an edited photo depicting him awarding Conan what appears to be a doctored version of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Trump initially received some flack for posting the doctored photo on Wednesday.
Conan — who was named after comedian Conan O’Brien — was injured in the mission to take down al-Baghdadi after being exposed to live electrical wires. The brave canine had been pursuing al-Baghdadi through an underground tunnel in northwestern Syria when he was injured.
Conan has taken part in about 50 missions and has worked with special operations forces for four years. He has since returned to active duty.