Post by Brooke on Feb 14, 2004 21:35:45 GMT -5
U.S. soldiers in Iraq smitten with puppy love
Associated Press
St. Louis — American soldiers in Iraq who have befriended stray dogs are trying to bring them to the United States for care, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday.
Army Staff Sgt. Jason Cowart of Fort Hood, Texas, used military rations to draw one scrawny puppy from under a Dumpster. The dog, now named Ratchet, rode next to Cowart in the front seat of a Humvee throughout the war. In May, when Cowart learned that his stay in Iraq was being extended another six months, he made arrangements to send Ratchet back to the U.S.
His e-mail was one of the first requests for help the U.S. office of the World Society for the Protection of Animals received, but they've gotten others.
Laura Salter, director of the society's U.S. headquarters in Framingham, Mass., said the group receives three to six calls or e-mails a week from soldiers or relatives looking to bring a dog from Iraq to the United States.
The organization has a new brochure explaining to soldiers the hurdles they face trying to get the animals to the United States.
Missouri National Guard Pfc. Jeremiah Smith, 21, of Fulton, ran into a dog named Niki one day at a gate to his unit's compound, he said in an e-mail from Iraq.
"She is just a great dog to have," he said. "She sits and stays on command, not to mention I am training her to fetch a ball. She may not be house-broken yet, but I am still working on that."
In the case of Ratchet, WSPA International Projects Director John Walsh contacted an animal lover who works for British Airways. She helped arrange the flight for Ratchet from Iraq to London to Houston.
There are orders that don't allow soldiers to use military transport to move non-military animals. Pets are shipped only for a soldier's permanent change of station orders. Capt. Stephen Honda of the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base in Mascoutah, Ill., said a soldier on temporary assignment overseas could only have a working dog on a Department of Defense aircraft.
There's also been stepped up enforcement by the military of a rule against soldiers having mascots.
Salter of the animal protection group told the Post-Dispatch she has received e-mails from soldiers seeking help, and then receives another one later explaining they no longer need assistance because the camp commander has had the dog killed.
Don Smith said he is committed to bringing his son Jeremiah's dog home.
"If I have to go into hock for it, I'll have to go for it," he said. "I've done it before."
Associated Press
St. Louis — American soldiers in Iraq who have befriended stray dogs are trying to bring them to the United States for care, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday.
Army Staff Sgt. Jason Cowart of Fort Hood, Texas, used military rations to draw one scrawny puppy from under a Dumpster. The dog, now named Ratchet, rode next to Cowart in the front seat of a Humvee throughout the war. In May, when Cowart learned that his stay in Iraq was being extended another six months, he made arrangements to send Ratchet back to the U.S.
His e-mail was one of the first requests for help the U.S. office of the World Society for the Protection of Animals received, but they've gotten others.
Laura Salter, director of the society's U.S. headquarters in Framingham, Mass., said the group receives three to six calls or e-mails a week from soldiers or relatives looking to bring a dog from Iraq to the United States.
The organization has a new brochure explaining to soldiers the hurdles they face trying to get the animals to the United States.
Missouri National Guard Pfc. Jeremiah Smith, 21, of Fulton, ran into a dog named Niki one day at a gate to his unit's compound, he said in an e-mail from Iraq.
"She is just a great dog to have," he said. "She sits and stays on command, not to mention I am training her to fetch a ball. She may not be house-broken yet, but I am still working on that."
In the case of Ratchet, WSPA International Projects Director John Walsh contacted an animal lover who works for British Airways. She helped arrange the flight for Ratchet from Iraq to London to Houston.
There are orders that don't allow soldiers to use military transport to move non-military animals. Pets are shipped only for a soldier's permanent change of station orders. Capt. Stephen Honda of the U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base in Mascoutah, Ill., said a soldier on temporary assignment overseas could only have a working dog on a Department of Defense aircraft.
There's also been stepped up enforcement by the military of a rule against soldiers having mascots.
Salter of the animal protection group told the Post-Dispatch she has received e-mails from soldiers seeking help, and then receives another one later explaining they no longer need assistance because the camp commander has had the dog killed.
Don Smith said he is committed to bringing his son Jeremiah's dog home.
"If I have to go into hock for it, I'll have to go for it," he said. "I've done it before."