09/29/2026
People often ask, “What’s Sky Soldier Dog Training?”
It’s more than just dog training.
On September 29, 2012, SFC Daniel T. Metcalfe was killed in Afghanistan.
I never had the privilege of knowing him personally. But I was fortunate to learn from men who knew him, were influenced by him, and were themselves shaped by the men who came before them.
That is part of what the name Sky Soldier Dog Training means to me.
It was the motto of the 173rd long before it became the name of a little dog training studio in St. Louis. And long before I ever put it on a business card, there were Sky Soldiers who gave their lives wearing that name.
SFC Metcalfe was one of them.
I have been fortunate to spend my life around men who taught me how to lead, take responsibility, and carry myself when things aren’t easy. Much of what I bring into my work today came from those men.
So yes, I train dogs.
But I also recognize how small and fortunate that responsibility really is.
We get to spend our days doing something as seemingly silly as teaching dogs to sit, heel, and behave because there were men before us who were willing to do things that were anything but silly.
Their sacrifice made the ordinary possible.
Remembering SFC Daniel T. Metcalfe
29 September 2012.
