Corporal David Sonka served as a Patrol Explosive Detector Dog handler (PEDD Team Leader) with III MEF out of 29 Palms, CA, and went on to serve as an elite Multi-Purpose Canine Handler (MPC Company Team Leader) with Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC), with whom he served when he was KIA in Afghanistan.

David was the most genuine, caring person in the room; in a room full of U.S. Marine Corps, that always mattered. I never saw him mad. When most U.S. Marine Corps used aggression, he used patience. He was all about the team, he was never out to make himself look better than anyone else. He loved his job and planned to make it a career.

David loved his dog and the U.S. Marine Corps. The Corporal David M. Sonka Multi-Purpose Canine Facility was named after him on the MARSOC compound in Camp Lejeune, NC, and the Rocky Mountain Dawgs Project was created by his parents in honor of him.