U.S. Army Specialist Vance McFarland served his tour of duty in Afghanistan detecting explosive devices with the help of a Czech shepherd named Ikar, who had been trained as a tactical explosive detection dog. McFarland admits that having a dog with him helped him get through the deployment, as it was  “almost like having a little bit of home.”

After McFarland and Ikar joyfully got off the plane at Fort Bragg, they snapped the below photo of themselves before they were sadly separated. Ikar was taken away ostensibly to be assimilated back into the training program, but he ended up suffering a much different fate.

Ikar’s services were not immediately needed when he got back to Afghanistan, so he was supposed to be kenneled for a few weeks. Instead, he was kenneled for 17 miserable months until Mission K9 Rescue intervened once they learned of his plight. Kristen Maurer, president of the organization, worked hard to free Ikar and the other dogs who had been kenneled along with him. These dogs served their country and are American heroes, but they were not being treated as such.

Once she rescued Ikar, Kristen went about trying to find his original handler. She finally got in touch with McFarland, who was crushed when he learned what had happened to his canine friend. He agreed to adopt Ikar, but he feared that the dog would not recognize him after so many years apart.

As soon as they were reunited, however, all these fears disappeared! Watch their emotional reunion below, and SHARE this story so your friend and family can see this as well!