Saving Ratchet

Update: October 21, 2008:

Ratchet arrived in the US today, decked out in a stars n’ stripes bandana!

Times Online

Update: October 20, 2008:

One lucky Iraqi dog is flying to a new home in the US after winning a battle against army regulations!

The animal rescue group Operation Baghdad Pups flew into Baghdad on the weekend and picked up Ratchet after the army relented. On Sunday, a private security firm collected Ratchet from the small base, put him into a pet carrier and transported him to the airport on Baghdad’s western outskirts. Baghdad Pups coordinator Terri Crisp then took custody and boarded him on the charter flight that took off Sunday night for Kuwait. He’s due in Minnesota later this week.

It was the third try by Operation Baghdad Pups to get Ratchet out of the country on behalf of Sgt. Gwen Beberg, who says she couldn’t have made it through her 13-month deployment without the affectionate mutt.

Beberg has been transferred to another military base to prepare for her departure from Iraq next month.

Seattle Times

Original story:

Young Ratchet was in danger of facing the death-penalty from U.S. Army officials.

Over 65,000 people signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a Minnesota soldier, who feared that “Ratchet” could be killed if left behind.

“I just want my puppy home,” Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail on Sunday from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. “I miss my dog horribly.” Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month. Beberg, a decorated soldier, has been held by the military more than 15 months past her original commitment due to the stop-loss policy. During her tour in Iraq, she sent regular dispatches to her home in Minneapolis charting the puppy’s process, with hundreds of fans tuning in on Facebook to follow Ratchet’s life.

Ratchet’s defenders ratcheted up their efforts to save him. On Monday, the program coordinator for Operation Baghdad Pups, which is run by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International, left for a trip to the Middle East to try to get the puppy to the U.S. And last week, Beberg’s congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, wrote to the Army urging it to review the case. Operation Baghdad Pups, which has the motto ‘No buddy gets left behind’, is pleading with the U.S. Army to allow Ratchet to fly out of the country – amid fears the dog will die if left behind.

Beberg and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash back in May. Defense Department rules prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets, but has made exceptions. Operation Baghdad Pups says it has gotten 50 dogs and six cats transferred to the U.S. in the last eight months.

But the U.S. military takes a strict line with soldiers befriending animals, and confiscated Ratchet as Sgt. Beberg prepared to fly home from Baghdad Airport. Bringing wartime pets back home has always been a haphazard affair. It’s also against U.S. military rules.

Sgt. Beberg’s mother Patricia said: ‘This year has been extremely difficult on my daughter and her family. It has been a year of disappointments, loneliness, and fear because of all the sacrifices the army has required of Gwen.

Ratchet was the savior of her sanity. Now they have cruelly ripped Ratchet away from her and sentenced him to death. I don’t know how my daughter will cope. Ratchet has been her lifeline.”

Sgt. Beberg is also under military investigation for befriending the dog that saved her life.

A close friend of Sgt Beberg said: “It hasn’t been easy for her – and the puppy she saved has been one of the few things that has kept her going. She’s shared pictures of him as he grew from a frightened ball of fur to an adorable young dog.”

Ratchet served America by protecting his troops as a loud alarm system for nighttime movements and by providing urgently needed morale to lonely troops (not just me!). If a citizen of, let’s say Mexico for example, enlists in the U.S. Army and serves honorably, he or she gets fasttracked for naturalization as a U.S. citizen. Several people here from multiple nations have already taken advantage of this policy and become American citizens. Well, Ratchet didn’t enlist, but he served honorably, and I think that should entitle him to a chance to continue that service in the States.

My plan for Ratchet is simple: take him home, train him as a service dog, and love him until his last day. Ratchet would be a valuable asset for troops back home. Who better to tell your troubles to than a dog who has been there, who won’t judge you, and who will love you unconditionally no matter what you had to do to survive? Even Army mental health workers in Iraq are incorporating dogs into their therapies, with great success! Ratchet is first-line defense against PTSD and suicide. He has made me think twice about some seriously self-damaging actions several times. He really has helped me to survive.

“Soldiers can face immediate court-marshal for befriending animals and some even see their animals brutally murdered by a direct gunshot to the head from commanding officers who will not bend the rules.”

“It was so close… Ratchet was on his way to the airport. And now he might be killed, just because some power-hungry officers decided to flex their muscles and punish an innocent animal because Gwen dared to care about him.”

One soldier wrote to Baghdad Pups: ‘I have sacrificed a lot to serve my country. All that I ask in return is to be allowed to bring home the incredible dog that wandered into my life here in Iraq and prevented me from becoming terribly callous towards life.’

Friends have launched a campaign to get American senators to intervene.

Full story at the Chicago Tribune.

In Gwen Beberg’s own words.

Update on Facebook

More about Operation Baghdad Pups.

From Baghdad with Love.

The Tigris Runs Black with the Ink of Scholars

The brutalities of the Iraq war accumulate so fast it is difficult to keep track. But in this season of fifth- year anniversaries, one largely forgotten crime demands to be recalled, in part because it relates directly to the politics of memory itself. Five years ago this week, US troops stood by as looters sacked the Iraq National Library and Archives – one of the oldest and most used in the world. In Arab countries the old expression was “Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, and Baghdad reads.”

American troops were under orders not to intervene. Library staff who requested protection from the GI’s were told, “We are soldiers, not policemen”. American military orders did, however, extend to guarding the Ministry of Oil, and the headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s secret police.

The selective passivity of US forces was not only ethically questionable, but also a violation of international law. The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) makes clear that libraries should not only be spared attack in wartime but also actively protected.

Despite the sack of a major cultural institution and the collapse of the society around it, the library struggles on, continuing a long tradition of resurrection from the ashes of war. The world’s first library was located in Mosul, in Northern Iraq. It was built in the 7th century BCE and produced the first known catalog in history. In 1927 a British archeological team unearthed it and, for “purposes of preservation”, carried off many of its artifacts – including the oldest known copy of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the first great work of world literature.

Iraq’s intellectual golden era came later and coincided with the Abbasid Dynasty ( 750-1258 ) whose capital was established at Baghdad. In 832, the construction of the Byat al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) established the new capital as an unrivaled center of scholarship and intellectual exchange.

The tradition of research there brought advances in astronomy, optics, physics and mathematics. The father of algebra, Al-Khawarizmii, labored among its scrolls. It was here that many of the Greek and Latin texts we accept as the foundation of Western thought were translated, catalogued and preserved. And it was from Baghdad that these works would eventually make their way to medieval Europe and help lift that continent from its benighted, post-Roman intellectual torpor.

In 1258, the Mongols descended on Baghdad and emptied the libraries into the Tigris, ending the city’s scholarly preeminence enjoyed for nearly 500 years. “Hence the legend developed,” as one scholar wrote, “that the river ran black from the ink of the countless texts lost in this manner, while the streets ran red with the blood of the city’s slaughtered inhabitants.”

The current Director of Iraq’s National Library and Archive, Dr. Saad Eskander, estimates that over three days, beginning on April 11, 2003, as many as “60 percent of the Ottoman and Royal Hashemite era documents were lost as well as the bulk of the Ba’ath era documents…. [and] approximately 25 percent of the book collections were looted or burned.” Other Iraqi manuscript collections and university libraries suffered similar fates.

Since then, Iraqis have once again tried to rebuild their library. The occupying powers have played along, but like so much about the Iraq War, their effort has been marked by ineptitude, hypocrisy and a cruel disregard for Iraqi people and culture.

Early in the occupation, L. Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), demonstrated an unwillingness to provide the basic funds necessary for the reconstruction of Iraq’s educational and informational infrastructure. Dr. Rene Teijgeler, senior consultant for Culture for the Iraqi Reconstruction Management office at the American Embassy in Baghdad, left his position in February of 2005, not having “the supplies of ready cash that could be used to acquire something as simple as bookshelves.” His position was left empty.

So the library staff have looked elsewhere, occasionally finding pieces of the old collection for sale there on Al Mutanabi street, home to Baghdad’s booksellers.

Many dedicated people have offered important solidarity. In Florence, the city government underwrote construction of a conservation lab. The Czech government funded the training of Iraqi archivists. With the exception of invaluable training sessions organized by private educational institutions such as Harvard University, American support has been limited to a relatively small number of individual scholars, a few dedicated nonprofit agencies, nominal USAID support and the cooperation of a handful of private
corporations. The British National Library has provided recently published English-language social science texts and donated microfilm copies of its colonial administrative records from its last occupation of Iraq. But the replacement of physical documents largely ends here.

It would be unfair and frankly absurd to blame American librarians and their shrinking budgets, rising legal costs and increasingly costly dependence on proprietary databases for the state of Iraq’s infrastructure. But the increasingly unstable position of American libraries is actually part of the same logic that produced that war. The disdain for cultural institutions does not stop at the border–bombs there, budget cuts here.

Excerpted from The Nation

Image: “Al-Mutanabi Street, 5 March 2007″, by textile artist, Eileen Doughty. See more of her work at Doughty Designs

Buying Time for Soldiers’ Pets

Earlier, we blogged about the kindness of American troops stationed in Iraq, who had bonded with animals there and made the effort to bring those animals back to the U.S. We and our readers were particularly touched by the story of Peter Neesley, whose tragic death overseas did not stop him from giving the next-best gift to his family at home – Boris and Mama, two strays that he had befriended in Baghdad, who are now paying his charity forward by being there for the family when Peter cannot.

A Soldier’s Gift

From Baghdad With Love

Operation Baghdad Pups

Meanwhile, there is darker news States-side in Lakewood, WA, where a local woman who rescued dozens of animals that were left behind by deployed soldiers is being told to give them up.

Diana VanDusen began taking in stray and unwanted pets after the animal shelter at Fort Lewis shut down 18 months ago. Most of the animals are old or disabled, and most come from military families from Fort Lewis who have had to move overseas. Some of the soldiers reclaim their pets when they return home, but others do not have such a luxury.

“The rest (of the soldiers) – they had to abandon (their pets), because they didn’t know when they were coming back,” said VanDusen. “One cat I held for two years, and no one came back for it. So I knew it was time to adopt it out. I met lot of soldiers along the way that are devastated they have to leave their pets behind.” VanDusen’s mother said soldiers found out that Diana would take their pets and hold them or adopt them out when they left for Iraq or other posts.

VanDusen keeps some of the animals in her home and the rest in an enclosed space in her backyard. But Animal Control officers told her she’s in violation of city code, which states one residence can only house up to five animals. Officers told VanDusen that she would be fined $500 if she does not reduce the number of animals in her home to five by April 14.

Van Dusen pays for veterinary care and neutering of the animals she rescues, and Animal Control officers acknowledged that all the animals were properly cared for, according to Dave Bugher, assistant city manager.

The city’s mandate leaves the soldiers’ animals with nowhere to go, VanDusen said. Many of the animals in her care are old or demand special care. In describing one of her dogs (now thankfully adopted), VanDusen said “he’s blind. He has a neurological disorder on his back legs. He’s old, he’s 14 years old. Who wants to adopt a dog that could pass away in a few months? Here, they can stay as long as they need; I don’t euthanize.”

According to her records, Van Dusen has adopted out more than 860 dogs and cats over 17 years. She said she’s rescued and taken in pets in Lakewood for five years. She said she cared for and adopted out hundreds of stray cats and dogs from Fort Lewis before its facility closed in 2006.

VanDusen said turning our backs on the soldiers’ pets is simply unacceptable. “We’re supposed to support our troops,” she said. “If they can’t support the troops by supporting the animals of the troops, then I can’t live in a city that doesn’t back our troops. Because these guys are innocent victims of what’s going on over there.”

She said she’s even considered moving. “If I could relocate myself and my animals within that deadline, I would. But you see how the housing market is right now,” she said.

At time of writing, VanDusen now has around 14 cats in her care, down from a total of 31 animals. Finding permanent homes for the remaining pets cannot happen overnight, and although she is working hard and acting in good faith to place the animals – she is taking them to the Puyallup PetSmart today for an adoptathon – she hopes the city will change its mind. Kudos to PetSmart for offering her the chance to do this each and every weekend this month.

It was hardly reasonable for Animal Control to expect that she could meet their demands by April 14 without making some heartbreaking and hard decisions for the animals. Needless to say, these draconian demands are hardly a comforting message to American troops who have had to leave their pets behind.

Media exposure and email campaigns may have prompted a change of heart for the city which, as of April 9, is now considering an extension of the deadline if Ms. VanDusen continues to reduce the number of animals in her care to five.

“If she is showing effort to come into compliance, we will ease on the deadline,” said Jeff Brewster, who works for the city. But the city is sticking to its maximum limit of five animals per household. “These laws we have are intended to respect and protect the privacy and peace of mind of neighbors that live nearby,” said Brewster.

Assistant city manager Bugher also said that Lakewood officials will review zoning regulations to determine if it can be allowed and under what conditions.

“I think that is just heartless,” said Denise White, who just adopted a military dog from VanDusen. ” I just think that she was doing a good service, and I don’t see where there was any harm. I really don’t.”

Burt Bray just got a dachshund named Rusty for free. He says the city should leave Diana alone. “Why can’t she just be grandfathered in?” he said.

“Not many people want 30 animals living next door to them in a city neighborhood,” said Brewster. But VanDusen said none of her neighbors ever complained.

It is this blogger’s opinion that the city needs to ease up on Ms. VanDusen, and give her whatever time she and the community needs to adopt out the remaining “excess” animals. And should it not be feasible to rehome all but five animals, considering their age and condition, surely it would not be a grave inconvenience, with the agreement of her neighbours, to grant her an exception to shelter them until their families return or for their remaining days.

It is a sad statement about our civilization that petty regulations, paperwork, and deadline-twitchy bureaucracy are allowed to get in the way of compassion.

KOMO-TV

Video at King5-TV

KOMO-Radio Update, April 9

Tacoma News-Tribune

What can you do?

Let the City of Lakewood know that you support Ms. VanDusen’s charitable efforts and a decision to work with her in good faith to ensure that all of her charges have a safe haven.

(Substitute the usual @ character for (at) in your email).

Council(at)CityofLakewood.us

info(at)cityoflakewood.us

Small Collateral Damage

Like thousands of others worldwide, I’ve been following an ugly story this week, regarding the outing of U.S. Marine, David Motari, and an incident that took place sometime last year in Iraq.

A swaggering Motari was video’d, holding up a small and very young black and white puppy whose front paws had been tied, guffawing about how cute it was, and then tossing it over a cliff to either an instant or a painful and lingering death.

The viral nature of the Internet being what it is, you can sift through the global outrage on various forums and blogs, and catch cached copies of the video that was deleted from YouTube.

What is interesting and sad is the spate of excuses that have been made for this guy.

The puppy was only a toy. No wait, it was already dead. Or…the video was edited and the real puppy was never actually thrown over the cliff. Or…the mother dog had been blown up and the puppies were going to die a more inhumane death if Motari hadn’t intervened. Or, well, it was going to give away their position to The Enemy. It could have been diseased. Maybe even have rabies! The commanding officer had told them to get rid of all strays. Iraqis don’t respect dogs either. PTSD made him do it. What can you expect – these guys are trained to kill? It’s the fault of the military brass for brainwashing them. And on and on.

One word: FAIL.

Contrast the arrogant behaviour of this hoodlum with that of soldiers who have warmed our hearts through their humanity and compassion towards the animals in Iraq that comforted them. Jay Kopelman, author of “From Baghdad With Love”, the late Peter Neesley, whose family adopted the two dogs he had rescued, and the group behind “Operation Baghdad Pups”, show us the integrity and courage of the U.S. military.

From Baghdad With Love

A Soldier’s Gift

Operation Baghdad Pups

One can presume that their integrity and that of many more soldiers like them has carried forward to their dealings with the people in the mid-east. I could hardly say the same for punks who think it is fun to toss puppies off cliffs, blow up sheep, and shoot dogs and cats for target practice. (Yes, there are more videos. Keep moving. Nothing to see here.)

In his MySpace site, Motari bemoans the fact that he was caught. No remorse, no learning, just cowardice. Of course, this could be a fake account, set up by some other attention-seeker altogether…

F**K
Category: Life

The Sergeant Major called me in today and it looks like they found out about the dog thing. I don’t know who it was who put it on F**KING youtube, but man they are not happy… They were even talking about court martialing me, but they better not. It wouldn’t be fair because they didn’t court martial the last guy they caught F**KING with a dog.

F**K atleast i was humane about it. That guy from motor transport shot a dog in the stomach in front of the Major and everyone thought it was funny. I F**K up and it gets on TV and all of a sudden it’s wrong. This is some BS. POS media, always sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong.

What can you do?

Recommend that this abuser be punished to the full extent of the law. Court-martial and dishonourable discharge might send a message to others that this behaviour is not acceptable. He does not get it, apparently, so counselling would be in order too. Maybe also ask for an investigation into the individual who cooperated in filming the event, and anyone else who took part.

You can write to a very busy Christopher Perrine, the PR officer fielding a lot of emails at the Hawaii base where Motari is now, hopefully only temporarily, stationed. Please be polite.

christopher.perrine@usmc.mil

And the Marines are looking for your feedback at:

mcbh.pao.fct@nmci.usmc.mil

Ask Andrew S. Effron, Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, to include cruelty to all animals in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

UCMJ

Update: June 12, 2008

Lance Cpl. David Motari, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay, is “being processed for separation” from the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps said in a news release. He also received unspecified “non-judicial punishment.”

MSNBC

Operation Baghdad Pups

He hesitated just a bit as he rounded a corner inside Dulles International Airport and spotted the flock of television cameras and cooing journalists awaiting him. Then, with posture erect like a soldier’s, he trotted straight toward the action — he was used to bomb blasts and gunfire, after all, so this was nothing.

Post-escape from Baghdad and fresh off a 13-hour flight from Kuwait, Charlie the border collie mix actually seemed to be smiling for the crowd.

Five months after the SPCA International received a plea from American soldiers hoping to transfer their beloved Iraqi stray to U.S. terrain, the 9-month-old mutt became the first beneficiary of the animal advocacy organization’s effort to rescue pets from the war zones where they provide solace to service members. Charlie eventually will live in Phoenix with one of his caretaker soldiers.

It being Valentine’s Day, the SPCA dished out the emotional hyperbole. Charlie’s bond with his caretakers, the organization said, “is the ultimate love story between a man and his dog.”

Washington Post (sign-in may be required)

US Soldiers that have befriended stray cats and dogs while on duty in the Middle East will start to be able to bring those “adopted” animals home.

The SPCA International program is called “Operation Baghdad Pups” and the program will assist in arranging the transportation of the animals who have been brought into the unit as mascots and companion animals to the brave men and women. This is a carefully planned mission says Terri Crisp, Animal Resource and Rescue Consultant, SPCA for Operation Baghdad Pups. Baghdad Pups will be able to bring home approximately 35 to 50 dogs each year.

However there are strict limits set in place. An example is that no dog would be going to a US home that have young children. The reason behind the limits is to reduce the chance of impulse adoption by US Soldiers who are just adopting the dog prior to leaving just to get the animal out of the Middle East. This could potentially overload local shelters here in the US, which is already overloaded. So, SPCA International actually allows dogs that have been with the unit or in the care of the unit for at least 2 months and animal is shipped out 2 months ahead of the Soldier.

In Middle East countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, animals like dogs and cats are not treated as pets, they are not socialized with humans and usually live in packs or colonies. Most dog packs are around 35 dogs per pack and survival is the number one concern for the dogs.

Read more about The Unclean Children of God.

In Iraq and the Middle East, the dogs and cats befriended by US Soldiers were adopted into the unit as pups and kittens. If left on their own, survival probably would be minimal and that is after probably neglect, abuse and starvation.

There is one hurdle that SPCA International is working around, the Government Order 1-A or (GO-1A) prohibits the keeping of animals. This order however has not dampened the activities of Baghdad Pups. This is not an attempt to fix the stray population in these countries but a way to help get these morale boosters here to the states so they can continue to be a part of these soldiers’ lives.

Costs are around 4,000 dollars per animal and that is dependent on the animal’s size and the US destination. The animals that will be coming back ahead of the US Military personnel will be fostered at a special dog camp. The dogs may also need house breaking and other adjustment training to living in a home.

The SPCA International will also be helping cover the costs of animals that belong to active military personnel when they are transferred. Also foster homes are being set for personnel who can not care for their animals for an extended period.

Best Friends article

Operation Baghdad Pups – SPCA International

From Baghdad with Love

A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava

During the first week of the battle for Fallujah, Marines securing an abandoned warehouse heard a strange sound. What they found was a “ball of fur not much bigger than a grenade.” The battalion adopted the puppy, and this is the inspiring story of their struggle to keep him alive and ship him back to the States.

An excerpt from the book, by Jay Kopelman:

I heard someone say once that guilty people live violent lives. At the time, I didn’t really get it, but if what they meant was the way guilt waits in ambush, traps your well-trained sense of control and then tortures you into confessions you’d just as soon not make, I now understand.

I mean, I guess it’s guilt. That’s one part of my confession. Maybe it’s just what the therapist calls post-traumatic stress, even though I’ve only been home for a week, or maybe some chemical imbalance brought on recently by any number of issues or maybe just residue from the sleeping pills still floating through my blood stream, but hell, what else besides guilt has the capacity to beach land so much fear?

Anxiety, maybe. Anxiety assumes less culpability, implies less of an offense, offers more of an excuse. Or compulsiveness. Along with nightmares, flashbacks, moodiness, alcoholism and depression, they said something about a compulsive disorder that could send your brain cells scurrying into all sorts of witless directions, and between checking incoming email, praying for the phone to ring and counting the paces between one wall and the next, it seems entirely plausible.

But then, so did getting Lava out of Iraq in the first place, and how impeachable was that offense after Allah, Jehovah, Jesus, Lady Luck and Santa Clause made it pretty clear it wasn’t on their list of things to do this year?

I check the email again. Nothing. It’s the middle of the day there in Baghdad, the middle of the night here in California and no time in particular everywhere else in between. Something must have gone wrong.

I mean, what else besides guilt would drive a man to do what I did back there? Obsession, perhaps, but that implies a lifetime of prescription slips from the therapist and besides, not everyone involved in the rescue—the Marines, the journalists, the Iraqis, the personal security guys — could be crazy. Maybe they could. Nothing seems right-side-up anymore and hasn’t for some time now.

I think the pacing is what’s getting to me. The back-and-forth unearths all kinds of radioactive crap I don’t want hanging around. Like a lot of faces. Weird, dreamy faces. Faces of stray dogs I fed at the Syrian border. Faces of embedded journalists in Fallujah with terror dripping down them like sweat. Faces of Iraqis smashed into the street like ripe banana meat under your boot and the question of whether a face is really a face if there’s no one home behind it.

Mostly, though, faces of people who risked their lives to try and help save Lava. They bother me the most, and that’s the second part of the confession. I think we all let the mangy, little flea-bitten refugee get to us—as if compassion was some sinister germ intent on infection—and now that we’ve all been bitten by the contagion, now that it comes down to the end, now that all other roads of escape are closed for good, I feel responsible to them to make sure Lava gets out alive.

Maybe the little shit is dead already. Or maybe they didn’t make it through and he’s now lost on the streets of Baghdad wondering where everybody went.

There were so many times when I figured the best thing for the little guy was to just shoot him in the head—yeah, yeah, I know how that sounds—but really, I mean I couldn’t stand the thought of him joining the other stray dogs who hobbled around on three legs looking for bodies to eat. I remember after the initial bombing in Fallujah, there were dead Iraqis all over the place and seeing dogs feasting on the remains and thinking this must be the only place on Earth where the dead nourished the living and how screwed up that seemed. Now I pray that if Lava doesn’t make it through, he’ll find a body somewhere in Baghdad to keep him alive for just one more day.

Which brings me to the third part of the confession: No matter how bad things get, it’s still better to be alive. And I want Lava to stay alive. I want to know he’s breathing and leaping after dust balls and chasing imaginary enemies in his sleep. I want him to be alive, because then there’s still hope that he’ll make it here to California and get to be an American dog who runs on the beach and chases the mailman instead of strangers with guns. I want him to be alive almost more than anything I can think of.

The fourth part of the confession is that when the phone finally rings, I don’t want to answer it…

CBS News

A Soldier’s Gift

Sweet memories for a family whose son can never return.

The family of Peter Neesley had one wish to fulfill after the Army sergeant died in Baghdad on Christmas Day.

They yearned to retrieve two stray dogs that he had taken in, and cared for. He was attached to them, and expressed in e-mails and phone calls how he wanted to bring them home to Michigan.

For weeks, the family has fought to have at least that part of Peter’s life given back to them.

On Friday afternoon, their wish came true.

As Mama, a black Labrador mix, and Boris, her white-and-brown spotted puppy, hopped out of a minivan, the family ran and knelt in the wet streets to greet them.

Peter Neesley’s sister, Carey, cried.

“It’s been such a long, complicated struggle and to see them finally come home is just amazing,” she said.

Neesley said things hadn’t been normal since the family learned that her 28-year-old brother had died in his sleep.

The dogs were picked up in Baghdad this week by Rich Crook, a rapid response manager for the Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, which helped arrange the animals’ transport after learning about them from media reports. Gryphon Holdings LLC, an American-owned airline with service to Iraq, agreed to fly the dogs from Baghdad to Kuwait City.

While Neesley’s fellow soldiers cared for Mama and Boris, a veterinarian with the Iraqi Society for Animals vaccinated the dogs and arranged for the health certificates allowing them to travel to the United States. Crook and the dogs arrived in Washington D.C. on Thursday and drove to the Grosse Pointe Farms home of Neesley’s mother, capping a four-week transfer that involved elected officials.

Much of the family, including an aunt of Peter’s who flew in from New Jersey, gathered at the home. A banner welcoming Mama and Boris hung outside of the brick house with red, white and blue balloons tied to a banister.

“There were times when we would have a roadblock and then all of a sudden it would open up, so we knew we were on the right track,” Crook said.

Carey’s son, Patrick, looked at Peter as a father figure and was excited about having the dogs home. Later in the afternoon, one of his best friends called to see if he could come over and play with Patrick and the dogs.

“Patrick, when we started this a few weeks ago, said he just wanted to love them and hold them and take care of them and all of that,” said Peter’s aunt, Julie Dean. “It’s going to be tremendous comfort for the family.”

Carey says the family doesn’t have any major plans for the new pets.

“We’re just going to love them, work on housebreaking, and that kind of stuff,” she said. She’s still waiting for it all to sink in.