Uday Joshi of Massachusetts is an Administrative Judge in New Mexico, where he has lived the last fourteen years. He is focused on many environmental issues, many of them relating to water and its use and development.

He is also interested in civil liberties and LGBT issues, tax reform, bolstering social security and Medicare, and in less weighty matters like fly fishing and college basketball and soccer.

Uday Joshi of Massachusetts is a supporter of animal shelters and of veteran dog adoption, which he believes is an often-overlooked matter. In an age where military veterans are given increasing respect and attention, but still not nearly enough, the dogs that serve with American servicemen and women are officially labeled surplus equipment. But they mean everything to the soldiers they help on the battlefield, and often pay the ultimate price for their service. Uday Joshi believes that these animals should get their due when they make it back to the United States.

Just as with human soldiers, military dogs experience heavy training and combat. Soldiers often express a desire to take their military dog’s home with them when they are discharged, but adopting a military dog can cost as much as two thousand dollars because the military doesn't pay for their return to the United States. That's a lot of money, and it is beyond the means of many soldiers.

The problem is with the classification of the dogs as military surplus. And many veterans are working to have that classification changed to canine veteran. These advocates say it is only fair, because military dogs never volunteered for their service the way human soldiers do. And yet they do their jobs no matter what, and they do it with all of their hearts, no matter what the task, or the hours involved, or what the weather conditions were like. These dogs, Uday V. Joshi of Massachusetts knows, did their duty, and should be treated better when that duty is done.

Families who adopt those dogs who have made it back to the States say their military dogs make great pets. Unfortunately these dogs are in the minority. After the Vietnam war, for example, only 204 dogs, out of nearly five thousand, were returned to the United States, according to military dog groups. Those numbers are greatly improved today, thanks in part to the efforts of people like Uday V. Joshi of Massachusetts.