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For Troops, Home Is A Wet Nose
fishermanben
Member Posts: 15,370
For Troops, Home Is A Wet Nose
USA TODAY
May 31, 2005
HUSAYBAH, Iraq - A pair of Navy corpsmen went on a scavenging mission in a
trash dump outside Camp Gannon here at the edge of town in March. Their
mission: Bring back a pet dog for the Marines.
Michael Ledbetter, 23, of Ballinger, Texas, and Chad Martin, 25, of Fort
Worth plucked three mongrel pups from their sour-smelling bed, immunized
them with veterinarian supplies they discovered in camp, gave them baths and
turned them over to the men.
That's against military rules, strictly interpreted. U.S. troops in Iraq
aren't allowed to have pets. And the wild dogs of the desert, which feed on
the troops' garbage, are viewed as menaces, aggressive to men on patrol and
often bearing diseases. A pack of 10 wild dogs lives near Camp Gannon, and
about 20 live near the base at nearby Qaim. They sneak up like insurgents.
At larger military bases than this one, private contractors set steel traps
for the dogs, and the animals are euthanized. Troops who try to adopt them
can be punished.
But here at Camp Gannon, where mortar and rocket fire are daily occurrences,
where the men live isolated from the Iraqi townsfolk and even from regular
military supplies -- which must be convoyed across the desert under heavy
security -- the officers in charge convened an informal powwow, and the
pups' adoption was approved.
"They're unofficial pets, that's for sure, but everybody knows about them,"
says camp physician Lt. Scott Wichman of Rochester, Minn., who attended the
confab that decided the dogs' fate. He says the pups are morale boosters.
"It gives them a sense of home and something to take care of," he says.
"They truly are community dogs."
Says Ledbetter, the Navy corpsman: "The Internet and phones are fine, but
it's nice to have a dog running around. It reminds you of home."
In April, Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States,
wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking the Pentagon to
stop the euthanasia of troops' pets and to drop its prohibition against care
of animals in the war zone. He also asked the Pentagon to authorize the
troops to ship home healthy animals.
Responding to what he said were "numerous letters of complaint" from troops
and their families about the Pentagon's hard line, he also criticized the
military's punishment of pet owners under its guidelines for conduct.
"The bond between humans and animals does not compromise character or
morale," he wrote. "Rather, it enhances them."
Ledbetter and Martin would settle for just being able to turn over their
growing pups to the next rotation of troops who will arrive at Camp Gannon
this fall.
For now, Wichman set the conditions for the dogs' stay: "The first sign of
anything bad -- growling or anything else -- and we're going to have to get
rid of them."
Today, the pups have names -- Lunchbox, Seven Ton and Sharpshooter -- and
duty rosters. Lunchbox sleeps beneath the corpsmen's cots but trots out
regularly to the tank post. And almost any time of day, he will check in at
the chow hall.
Seven Ton, who is named for the Marines' big transportation trucks, lives
with the mechanics at "Motor T" -- the T stands for transportation -- while
Sharpshooter is the snipers' mascot.
But Lunchbox, Ledbetter says, well, "he's the chief." Ledbetter and Martin
do rescue work for a living. In military parlance, they are "hospital men."
When mortars or rockets strike and most men are ordered to get down or fire
back, Ledbetter and Martin run in the direction of the blast to aid the
wounded.
Ledbetter has a job lined up at a Florida surf shop when he gets out of the
Navy in November. Martin is a guitarist and singer who has played a few
coffee shops and entertains the men with his original compositions. He isn't
sure what his future holds.
"We're going to turn (Lunchbox) over to the corpsmen in replace of us,"
Ledbetter says. "Obviously, we can't take him back. But it would be cool if
we could."
"Yeah," Martin says. "That would be sweet."
Play Ball!!!
USA TODAY
May 31, 2005
HUSAYBAH, Iraq - A pair of Navy corpsmen went on a scavenging mission in a
trash dump outside Camp Gannon here at the edge of town in March. Their
mission: Bring back a pet dog for the Marines.
Michael Ledbetter, 23, of Ballinger, Texas, and Chad Martin, 25, of Fort
Worth plucked three mongrel pups from their sour-smelling bed, immunized
them with veterinarian supplies they discovered in camp, gave them baths and
turned them over to the men.
That's against military rules, strictly interpreted. U.S. troops in Iraq
aren't allowed to have pets. And the wild dogs of the desert, which feed on
the troops' garbage, are viewed as menaces, aggressive to men on patrol and
often bearing diseases. A pack of 10 wild dogs lives near Camp Gannon, and
about 20 live near the base at nearby Qaim. They sneak up like insurgents.
At larger military bases than this one, private contractors set steel traps
for the dogs, and the animals are euthanized. Troops who try to adopt them
can be punished.
But here at Camp Gannon, where mortar and rocket fire are daily occurrences,
where the men live isolated from the Iraqi townsfolk and even from regular
military supplies -- which must be convoyed across the desert under heavy
security -- the officers in charge convened an informal powwow, and the
pups' adoption was approved.
"They're unofficial pets, that's for sure, but everybody knows about them,"
says camp physician Lt. Scott Wichman of Rochester, Minn., who attended the
confab that decided the dogs' fate. He says the pups are morale boosters.
"It gives them a sense of home and something to take care of," he says.
"They truly are community dogs."
Says Ledbetter, the Navy corpsman: "The Internet and phones are fine, but
it's nice to have a dog running around. It reminds you of home."
In April, Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States,
wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking the Pentagon to
stop the euthanasia of troops' pets and to drop its prohibition against care
of animals in the war zone. He also asked the Pentagon to authorize the
troops to ship home healthy animals.
Responding to what he said were "numerous letters of complaint" from troops
and their families about the Pentagon's hard line, he also criticized the
military's punishment of pet owners under its guidelines for conduct.
"The bond between humans and animals does not compromise character or
morale," he wrote. "Rather, it enhances them."
Ledbetter and Martin would settle for just being able to turn over their
growing pups to the next rotation of troops who will arrive at Camp Gannon
this fall.
For now, Wichman set the conditions for the dogs' stay: "The first sign of
anything bad -- growling or anything else -- and we're going to have to get
rid of them."
Today, the pups have names -- Lunchbox, Seven Ton and Sharpshooter -- and
duty rosters. Lunchbox sleeps beneath the corpsmen's cots but trots out
regularly to the tank post. And almost any time of day, he will check in at
the chow hall.
Seven Ton, who is named for the Marines' big transportation trucks, lives
with the mechanics at "Motor T" -- the T stands for transportation -- while
Sharpshooter is the snipers' mascot.
But Lunchbox, Ledbetter says, well, "he's the chief." Ledbetter and Martin
do rescue work for a living. In military parlance, they are "hospital men."
When mortars or rockets strike and most men are ordered to get down or fire
back, Ledbetter and Martin run in the direction of the blast to aid the
wounded.
Ledbetter has a job lined up at a Florida surf shop when he gets out of the
Navy in November. Martin is a guitarist and singer who has played a few
coffee shops and entertains the men with his original compositions. He isn't
sure what his future holds.
"We're going to turn (Lunchbox) over to the corpsmen in replace of us,"
Ledbetter says. "Obviously, we can't take him back. But it would be cool if
we could."
"Yeah," Martin says. "That would be sweet."
Play Ball!!!