Alaska News

JBER squadron bids farewell to longest-serving member -- Fado the bulldog

The longest-serving member of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's 525th Fighter Squadron retired on Friday.

Lt. Col. Clayton Percle -- one of the few people to ever fly more than 1,000 hours in the F-22 Raptor -- handed over command of his unit as he prepared for his next assignment. But Percle has only been with the unit a few years. Another member, the unit's honorary vice-commander, has been around the planes and pilots at JBER much longer -- almost his entire life.

Meet Fado, a purebred English bulldog.

At just 70 pounds, he is the unit's lightest member, but perhaps the most well-known. He has the run of the headquarters building and is a constant presence at functions both official and informal. His regal nature is sometimes betrayed by a certain gruffness. He sometime snores through meetings and has been known to emit an occasional belch, or worse. The vice-commander is now heading off to retirement at a farm in Tennessee. He is so beloved by the members of the unit that their official insignia bears his likeness, and until he handed over his command on Friday, he was the only living official Air Force fighter squadron mascot.

"It's really his unit, not ours," 1st Lt. Steven Tesauro said.

On Friday, hours before his official retirement, Fado spent his afternoon slowly strutting around the squadron's break room, near a ripped-up couch where he is known to both sleep and chew (sometimes at the same time).

Fado, Gaelic for "a long time ago," came to JBER as a puppy in 2007 and is the eighth official bulldog mascot for the squadron. The first, a bulldog named Helen, arrived at the unit in 1962, when the unit was stationed in England. After several location changes and a 15-year inactivation that ended in October 2007, the unit was reactivated at JBER.

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"It's important to keep traditions alive, especially as more of them are fading away," Cpt. Evan Umbright said, as he watched Fado take a huge drink of water, lie down and get some ear scratches.

Fado's replacement, a female bulldog puppy who has yet to receive an official name, met her predecessor on Friday as the 525th squadron commander and its honorary vice-commander said their goodbyes. After a few months with a squadron family, where the puppy will be house-trained and socialized, she'll take her place at the squadron's main building.

Fado has official orders as a military working dog and even has a dog version of security clearance to allow him to patrol the hangars and sensitive areas on base.

So why is a bulldog from England the mascot of an Alaska-based fighter squadron whose pilots fly planes named after birds of prey?

"It's a great example," Tesauro said. "Bulldogs are tenacious, loyal and independent. We tell young pilots to fly like a bulldog on a leash: with controlled aggression."

Despite his ferocious reputation, Fado is more of a floor occupier, love sponge and fallen-food vacuum than a fierce warrior. But he represents the fighting spirit of the men and women with whom he served.

"He's part of the squadron just like any of these other guys. We take care of him like we take care of each other," 1st Lt. Tesauro said. "And in his own way he takes care of us."

Sean Doogan

Sean Doogan is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News.

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