This tightly-wound narrative begins with Sgt. Eddie Watson, who falls in love with an Iraqi stray dog his unit named Charlie and ends with a challenging airlift of 26 dogs and two cats from the Red Zone of Bagdad, Iraq through Dubai, Paris, England, and Washington, D.C. to their new homes in the United States where they would be reunited with their soldier buddies.
The conduit for all is the SPCA International’s Operation Baghdad Pups program, headed by Terri Crisp, that launches with getting Charlie home and assumes legs thereafter with many other soldiers’ pleas for help, growing publicity and two civilian organizations’ incredible offers to help.
“When contemplating the growing number of requests to save dogs and cats befriended by U.S. troops, it was necessary that we take risks and break military rules. After 87 successful missions to Iraq, it is quite clear we made the right decision,” says Crisp. As of March, 261 dogs and 50 cats were shipped from the Middle East to the U.S.
Military rules prohibit U.S. forces from rendering assistance, rescuing and/or keeping pets on-post. Being caught can result in dire consequences. Conversely, the psychological salve these once beleaguered animals provide the troops is enormous, and is reflected in the dozens of e-mails Crisp shares with readers.
A Marine writes to a shocked Crisp detailing the rationale behind the military regulations: “We are forbidden to provide any kind of assistance to an injured animal we come across. The enemy discovered Americans can be real softies when it comes to animals, especially dogs, so they use that knowledge to their advantage. They have been known to purposely injure a dog, rendering it unable to move, and then they place a booby trap underneath its body. When a kind-hearted soldier sees the animal and goes to help, guess what happens next? Boom.”
The success of Operation Baghdad Pups, Crisp emphasizes, is the networking with brave and generous individuals and companies worldwide. On average, it costs SPCA International $4,000 to get an animal out of the Middle East.
The engaging narrative flows smoothly and is nicely integrated with powerful e-mails of pleas for help and later emotional thanks from the troops and their relatives stateside. As each incredibly difficult mission evolves twenty seven animals on one FedEx plane, Crisp is quick to credit the teamwork of all involved and the commitment of SPCA International to bring home some of our forces’ best buddies.
It’s hard to imagine anything more satisfying than saving a war-zone animal’s life when soldiers who have befriended and harbored it for months want nothing more than to bring it home where it would be safe, loved and cared for, by the soldiers and their families, for the remainder of its life.
“No Buddy Left Behind” by Terri Crisp and co-author, Cynthia Hurn is a wonderfully crafted, true story - a heart-wrenching journey accented with a blend of humor, insight and urgency. In the process, the true grit of the animals and their rescuers leaves the reader with a megawatt smile one minute and a tension-filled twinge and tightness the next.