" I learnt to love from Rex"- Megan Leavey
The Movie : Megan Leavey
Her true story of having a K-9
companion with excellent instincts that saves lives of US soldiers in Iraq is
amazingly heartwarming. The acceptance by Megan and Rex (the dog) of each other
and their unshakeable bond, her struggle to adopt him is what this movie is all
about. I am not so impressed with the first part of the movie though. They show
a US military combat dog named Rex a German shepherd in training which is extremely
aggressive and insubordinate. Megan
Leavey happens to come from a broken family with separated parents. She has
been living with her mother who is unwelcoming of her situation. She has been
doing boring odd jobs to just fill her life. A tragedy of losing a friend to
put behind her she feels herself to be just drifting without purpose not
knowing how to cope. So to break free, she joins US military to only find
herself in a situation where she has to wash and scrub for the US military K9
training Unit. This is how she chances upon meeting this “aggressive” dog Rex as
determined by his earlier handlers, other soldiers and the manner in which Rex builds
his image by growling and biting. (I understand completely as to how the dog is
shown here because that’s how dogs are when they are not understood properly).
She goes off to be in charge of this dog and train along with him for missions.
This is where I don’t understand this movie. They abruptly show her doing
couple of right things that makes her miraculously bond with Rex and then the
training starts to go well. I feel disconnected here as there is a part of the
story gone missing. No dog becomes obedient overnight. There has to be a time
and manner in which a so called aggressive dog is approached. I was actually
rooting to see how this bond is created. Nevertheless, this is the first half
of the movie. The second half becomes interesting as the story progresses to
show how wonderfully bonded they are, how Rex is highly intelligent in sniffing
out IEDs from deep underground on Iraq dessert. Now I am getting excited and
things are turning really interesting. Even if you are not a sucker for animals
or pets, Rex will actually impress you in this particular scene, here he intelligently
and deliberately saves a soldier’s life by dragging him off his ass that makes
him nearly miss a bullet aimed at him. Mind you this is no unrealistic
exaggeration as this can truly happen with animals their level of instincts,
dedication and heroism are extraordinary.
In spite of being hit by a bomb
explosion the duo carry on to complete the mission and save many lives, which
makes them war heroes. Both being physically hurt are separated from each other
for a long time. The story now is about Megan’s struggle to adopt this heroic
dog. Every soldier who has had and encounter with the enemy or been in the war
knows how difficult it is to cope with the trauma. The same is true for the
serving animal as well. This is seldom understood in our society where all
others except humans are treated as assets and are there to fulfill a purpose. The
vet feels that Rex is aggressive, Unable to recognize the fact that he has
suffered a trauma of being blown up. This is why Megan struggles to adopt him.
As per US law the dog will have to be eventually put down as he is termed
aggressive. I love the message that the movie gives. How she overcomes every
obstacle and never gives up on her companion. This is what the animals teach us
the virtues of love, respect, dedication, and to never give up on any fight of
any form in life.
We will only progress as a society when we start to learn from everything around us. Megan does say in the movie
that Rex teaches her how to truly love. I experience this every day in my life,
so I can say that that really is a fact. We humans attribute bad behavior and
violence to the term called as behaving like animals. Hah! a Joke in my mind. I
would feel superior to ever be called an animal.
I am so happy and honored to have
watched this story. I recommend everyone to watch this movie for REX, he will
impress you with his heroism and love.
The Real life Corporal Megan Leavey & Sargent Rex
