10 Biggest Details Megan Leavey's War Movie Leaves Out From The True Story

Summary Megan's reasons for joining the Marines were influenced by the 9/11 attacks, not personal loss like the film depicts.

Megan and Rex did not have a chance encounter in a kennel - they were assigned to each other in reality.

The film embellished Rex's temperament - in real life, he was a sweetheart, unlike the aggressive portrayal in the movie.

The 2017 war movie Megan Leavey told the true touching story of a soldier's bond with her military dog, but left out some key details of the real subject's actual story in true Hollywood fashion. One of many war movies based on a real person, Megan Leavey followed up on the 2011 book Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog, which detailed the story of Rex's previous handler, Marine Corporal Mike Dowling. Starting with Megan Leavey's entrance into the US Marine Corps, the film chronicled the story of her friendship with Rex.

For the most part, the film stayed relatively true to the real events as they occurred. Megan really did become Rex's next handler after Marine Joe Kang, both of them really did get heavily injured in the line of duty, and Megan really did fight to be able to adopt her beloved former companion thanks to the help of a kindly Senator. However, like many movies based real events, Megan Leavey didn't tell the whole story, and flat out embellished the truth in certain scenes.

10 Megan's Reasons For Joining The Marines Were Different

The film tried to make Leavey's recruitment more personal

The film Megan Leavey begins with the titular character's decision to join the military in the first place, specifically the U.S. Marine Corps. In the film, this is painted as a very personal journey that begins after Megan loses her best friend and her job back-to-back, reeling in grief and deciding to make something grander with her life as a result. What the film doesn't mention is that the real life Megan Leavey's decision to join was far less personal.

In reality, after trying college for a brief stint, Megan Leavey decided to join the Marine Corps in 2003. Leavey cited the September 11 terrorist attacks, only two years old at the time of her recruitment in 2003, as the primary impetus behind her decision. What the film does accurately portray, however, is her parents' attempt to talk her out of her decision, not wanting their only child to be put in harm's way with a military lifestyle.

9 How Megan And Rex Met

In reality, Megan and Rex didn't stumble across one another in a canine meet cute

Soon after joining up, Kate Mara's Megan Leavey has a chance encounter with the bomb-sniffing dog Rex while cleaning the filthy kennels of the K-9 unit as a punishment. It's this initial meeting that leads to Leavey's infatuation with the dog, doing everything in her power to transfer to the K-9 unit and pivot her military career into that of a dog handler in the explosive ordinance disposal squad. In reality, this kind of sudden shift in assigned duty wouldn't be so trivial to accomplish, making it unlikely that Megan could transfer to the K-9 unit on such a whim.

It's not so simple in the U.S. military to request a transfer to a different unit, especially one that requires such a unique set of skills. Furthermore, receiving a punishment to clean the kennel of a K-9 unit without already being a part of it would be essentially impossible to happen on its own. This would make it incredibly unlikely for Leavey to be able to work with Rex after running into him by mere happenstance. In the real story of Megan Leavey, the pair only met after being assigned to one another.

8 How Megan Signed Up For The K-9 Unit

The film stretched the suspension of disbelief for Leavey's K-9 unit involvement

The film's transfer of Megan Leavey into the K-9 unit raises a lot of questions. It's portrayed as relatively trivial for Megan to not only successfully lobby to begin training as a canine handler after already being deployed in another unit, but she's even able to request an assignment to one animal in particular. The true circumstances behind Leavey's conscription into the K-9 unit were far less coincidental.

In real life, Megan Leavey's desire to join a unit working with dogs was ingrained from the beginning. Soon after graduating basic training at Parris Island, Leavey applied for the K-9 unit of the military police. From there, the young soldier was working with Rex right after meeting him, being assigned to handle the beloved dog upon her arrival at Camp Pendleton, taking stewardship of him over from Marine Joe Kang.

7 Rex's Personality Was Overblown

The real-life Rex was far more of a sweetheart

Custom Image by Yailin Chacon

Megan Leavey and Rex's relationship began as a handler-animal duo in explosive ordinance disposal, training to hone Rex's sensitive nose to the chemical signs of commonly-used improvised explosive devices. In the film, Megan is warned that Rex is a particularly difficult dog to work with, having a lengthy rap sheet of bite incidents to his name. The fact that Leavey is able to overcome this volatile personality and form a close bond with Rex is meant to be indicative of her skills as an animal handler.

In reality, Rex was a sweetheart from the very beginning. Rex's former handler before Megan Leavey, a Marine by the name of Joe Kang, spoke out against the film's portrayal of Rex's temperament, admonishing the screenwriters for making Rex look bad (via Task and Purpose). In reality, Kang admits it was likely another particular dog in the same unit named Kevin that Rex's violent tendencies in the film may have been based off of.

6 Megan And Rex Don't Go On To Fight After Being Injured

The true story behind Leavey's Purple Heart isn't quite as dramatic

In both the movie and real life, Megan Leavey and Rex both become heavily wounded from an explosion in the line of duty, resulting in the former receiving the coveted Purple Heart medal for her bravery in the line of duty. In the film, this injury is the result of a ferocious firefight, in which an explosive round ends up going off dangerously close to the duo. When fact-checking the circumstances of Leavey and Rex's injuries, it seems the film may have slightly blown things out of proportion.

The existence of an actual exchange of fire between opposing forces and Leavey's squad during the time of her injury isn't confirmed. Although Leavey and Rex were indeed injured by the detonation of an improvised explosive device, it's unlikely that they actually went on to participate in the assault of an enemy position afterward, let alone taking mortar fire in a hectic firefight. While Leavey confirms some small arms fire was indeed exchanged during the incident (via Task and Purpose), the film doesn't accurately portray the events leading up to her injury.

5 Megan Got More Medals Than Just The Purple Heart

Even if it is the most significant laurel in her collection, Leavey achieved so much more

The Purple Heart is the most significant medal earned by anyone in the cast of Megan Leavey, let alone among Leavey's commendations specifically. Awarded only to soldiers who have sustained life-altering injuries in the line of duty, the Purple Heart is a rare badge of honor only those who have made intense sacrifices in the line of duty can attest to have pinned to their uniforms. That being said, the prestigious award was far from th only medal Megan Leavey received in real-life.

Alongside the Purple Heart, Leavey's most significant medal in real life is the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, which recognizes outstanding achievement and meritorious service. Megan's medal in particular features the golden "V" emblem, known as the Combat Distinguishing Device, which signifies that her achievements in receiving the merit were done in live combat. Other than that, Leavey was also recognized with the Combat Action Ribbon, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Medal, and several ribbons denoting the time and place of her service.

4 Leavey And Rex Got A Park Dedicated To Them

Megan Leavey was even more well-recognized than the film implies

Megan Leavey accurately depicts the overwhelming support the former Marine received in lobbying to adopt her former service animal. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Chuck Schumer, Leavey's petition garnered over 20,000 signatures, a stunning turnout of support for the heroic soldier's necessity to reunite with her partner in service. But the support wasn't the only special commendations Leavey and Rex would recieve after being reunited in civilian life.

In Megan Leavey's home state of New York, a dog park was opened in 2018, christened the Clarkstown K-9 Corrals. Dedicated to Leavey and Rex, the opening of this park was a heartwarming display of solidarity for Megan and the late Rex. Of course, opening a year after the release of the film, it's understandable that the park wasn't able to get a mention in the final edit.

3 The Film Adapted Stories From Other Marines

It seems as though the experiences of other soldiers made it into Leavey's story

As previously mentioned, Rex's portrayal in the film wasn't one hundred percent congruous to real-world events, assigning a non-existent difficulty in training to the otherwise well-behaved dog. However, not only were Megan's experiences with training the "difficult" Rex fabricated, but they seem to be directly taken from the experiences of other Marines. In particular, one Jesse L. Maldonado, a former Marine staff sergeant, criticized the film for lifting elements of his own story and pasting them into Megan Leavey (via Task and Purpose).

The stubborn dog Kevin that shared a unit with Rex, and was actually known to have caused bite incidents, was assigned to Maldonado. The former K-9 handler claimed that many of the details of Megan's supposedly difficult journey in training Rex actually happened to him, with much of the film lining up far more with his own experiences than Megan's. Maldonado also went on to become a chief handler, responsible for training new handlers. In the film, it's Megan that takes this role, despite never actually becoming a chief handler in real life.

2 Rex Never Hunted The Perpetrators Of The Explosive

The film made Rex pull double-duty as an attack dog and bomb-sniffer

Like all great movies centering on dogs, Megan Leavey was sure to show off the sensitive side of Rex, especially after his eventual retirement and adoption into Megan Leavey's household. However, the film made no mistake that Rex was indeed a combat animal, tracking down the perpetrator of the IED that downs him and his handler. In the film, Rex manages to subdue the terrorist responsible for the bomb, going for the throat in a striking display of valor and canine viciousness.

In reality, there's no evidence that Rex or Megan Leavey participated in a counter-assault following their injury. Beyond being simply too damaged to be combat effective, actual bomb-sniffing dogs and patrol dogs that hunt down and apprehend criminals undergo very different training regimes. It's unlikely that Rex would have ever been expected to, or trained to, personally hunt down and apprehend the creator or planter of an improvised explosive device.

1 Megan Continued To Work As A Dog Handler

Even if it wasn't with Rex

While Megan Leavey may end with Megan Leavey and Matt Morales' relationship on uncertain terms, Leavey maintained a close bond with Rex after adopting him right up until his death. That doesn't mean, however, that Megan Leavey never worked with another service animal, even if it wasn't in the military. Beyond the scope of the film, Megan ended up continuing her security work with dogs.

After recovering from her injuries and leaving the Marines with an honorable discharge, Leavey wanted to continue working in a similar role as her time on the K-9 bomb disposal squad. Leavey went on to work for a security company, MSA Security, where she worked with a dog named Patriot to keep Yankee Stadium safe. Since then, Megan Leavey has also worked in similar canine handler roles in the United Nations and as a veterinary technician.

Sources: Task and Purpose