Tom Lucha picked up Lex-Loci (legal term meaning "the law of the place") at Basic Dog School. Lex-Loci was donated to the Air Force by folks from LA, California. Tom and Lex spent a couple of years at Homestead AFB in Florida until the SAC unit was removed from the base. Tom received orders to Korat RTAFB, and was at Combat Preparedness School at Lackland when Lex and the other dogs from Homestead were shipped in. Tom went to the “powers-to-be” and requested to be reassigned to Lex. Their answer was NO! The reason given was that the dogs just shipped in needed physical and some had ticks. Due to the ticks, the vet even threatened the handler with “charges”. The fact that the handler had been separated from Lex for a couple of months seemed to carry no weight.

Tom had kept an ongoing dialog with Lex’s donors, as suggested by the Air Force. He called the donors and informed them of the Lackland Vet’s decision and returned to his duties. Several days later the handler was called off the shotgun range and ordered to the vet’s office. Fearing the worse, the handler entered the vet’s office with trepidation. The vet’s demeanor had completely changed, where he had been threatening and too busy previously, he now was friendly and affable. He informed the handler that Mrs. Johnson, President Johnson’s wife, had called the base commander and “suggested” that Lex-Loci be returned to his handler. Therefore, Lex would be reassigned to Korat RTAFB also. The vet said to the handler, “You have friends in high places”. Tom replied, “No, I’m just a regular guy, Lex-Loci has friends in high places”.

Tom later learned that Lex’s donors were influential folks associated with the “LA Times” and had made a few phone calls.  It’s good to be a handler of a dog with clout.