ohhhhhhhhhhh that was so heartwarming...please lucianne...do a follow up when BOLT arrives in the USA

Precious. I love these stories. God bless them both. :wipingawayatear:

General Order #1 prohibits feeding or keeping any local animals as pets. Vector control routinely kills all of them. Many are rabid and numerous cases of rabies have resulted, some fatal. Rules are rules. Get a new dog.

What about trained military dogs in all branches? I read that they were considered "equipment" and left behind. Not too long ago, Senator Schumer was involved with getting a service dog reunited with his now state side female Marine. I remember that because that is the only thing that Senator Schumer has done that I could support.

#3, do you ever exceed the speed limit, run a yellow light when you could have stopped, over deduct on your income taxes?

This guys life was in danger every day for a year. That was one cold reaction.

My son fed a stray when he was in Iraq and even sent me pictures of it. He didn't mention it during a phone call and when I asked about it, he said, well I haven't seen it lately and I know what probably happened, do you need me to explain? Poor doggy but it's demise should make #3 happy.

Great story. I'd love to see the reunion.

#3, in a similar story, I read about a military vet giving rabies shots and other care to camp "pets." I assume the camp vet would give rabies shots to humans if they had been bitten. I haven't heard of any of our military dying of rabies, although I don't say it couldn't happen. My son was bitten by a sick wild animal when he was seven and received an extremely painful shot in the stomach every day for 30 days (the old Pasteur treatment), so I'm not dismissing the problem.

See http://www.nowzad.com/ which helps stray animals in Afghanistan and also has a program specifically for the military: Soldiers Animal Companion Fund.

How Nowzad began is explained at http://www.nowzad.com/about/

Be sure to have your credit or debit card ready because your eyesight will strangely turn very blurry when you read how Nowzad began and you might hurt yourself in your rush to donate as you go for your wallet. It's actually a UK-registered charity but helps our military members too.

The rules and regs in the military, in the war zone are massive and burdensome and often heartless. They are often unhelpful and always dehumanizing. Many should be changed but selective enforcement is a poor method of improving the quality of justice.

I love animals as much as anyone but 7+ years in the war zone taught me that there is often a very good reason for why the military does things the way they do. Vector control has saved many lives. There have been several cases of rabies.

The love from these animals was the one decent thing our soldiers in Afghanistan had to keep them sane in that God forsaken place. Our troops should be allowed to bring them home, period.

I truly feel sorry for any human who has not experienced the intense companionship of a dog or cat. My home is shared with rescued huskies, and we are all family.

Looking forward to the story of the "reunion" of Shaun and Bolt.

Dogs are mankind's oldest friends. 25,000 years ago they wandered in to share our campfires. And, they have been loyal ever since.

It was 10 to 15 thousand years later before we domesticated any other animal.

And BO gets his own free flights on Air Force I.

I hope Shaun gets his Bolt. The closeness, companionship and love your pet gives you cannot be compared to anything else. It is total, it is absolute and a very precious thing. I don't understand why it takes a charity $4,000 to fly Bolt home. Regulations, red tape, shots, vets, space on the plane, Okay. But $4,000?

Do you know how to define true and unconditional love? Put your wife/girlfriend and your dog in the trunk of your car on a very hot day and drive around all day on bad roads (like the ones we have here in Hawaii). At the end of the day you open the trunk....of the two, who is happy to see you?

Cheers from Waikiki.......MSgt (ret)

Note to #3, maybe you should have explained you kept our Treasure safe in Kabal, before you mentioned the rules. To those that don't know what you did and for how long, they took your comments as heartless. But some of us know and understand.

#14, There's a video at

http://youtu.be/K5fBiVt3bwc

which could explain some of the costs.

I did read that the charity has to house and feed the dog at its shelter in Afghanistan for 30 days to comply with US import laws. The dog is also required to have vaccinations, spaying or neutering, certificates, licenses, etc.. I do believe that the shelter holds animals until the soldier can raise sufficient money for expenses and to transport the dog to the UK or US.

Transportation from a base to the shelter in Kabul (often by taxi) also increases the cost.

Much of what the charity uses, including food, medical and cleaning supplies, and transportation cages, has to be imported, adding tremendously to their expenses.

There's a page at the site which has photos and stories of the dogs currently in their care. You can donate to a specific animal if you wish.

Awwww! I can't wait for a follow-up story!

Shut up #3. You're an idiot and miserable excuse of a human being. Please die in a fire.