It was a cold, early, miserable morning after a night of 50% security in the small villiage of Barwana, just west of Muqdadiya, in Eastern Iraq.  The members of my platoon were conducting another patrol after a mind numbing three days of raids and sleepless, cold nights.  After slugging around in the mud of the completely underdeveloped villiage, I, as well as some other scouts from the Recon Platoon, saw the puppy.  He couldn't have been more than ten pounds and was extremely dirty and miserable looking.  Tied to a cinder block with about two feet of electrical cord in a cow pen, he looked like he wasn't long for this world. 

"Let's go get that puppy," I said to one of my Recon Team Leaders.

"Sounds good."

The family would have none of it.  Surprising that with all of our 21st century weapons and equipment that some random, destitute Iraqi family with a house made out of mud and manure would refuse our request.

"How about we give you an AK-47 for him."

It seemed a logical offer for me to give.  I wanted that puppy badly.  It worked like a charm.  After another 24 hours of patrols we took the pup back to our FOB.  We weren't supposed to have pets, but I didn't care.  I was smitten with this misbehaved dirty dog.  He was somewhat of a pain; scared of the dark, scared of loud noise, scared of everything.  He had a tendency to hold his bladder until I put him on my cot to go to sleep at night.  Somehow I couldn't get rid of him though.  What to name him?  Well, we were the Scout Platoon, and he was our dog, so, naturally, we named him Scout. 

We kept him under wraps for quite some time.  He patrolled with us, went on missions with us, even spent some extended time in hide sites, helping to watch our six.  Inevitably our battalion commander came to visit our living area at FOB Normandy, really only a half standing bunker, but it was home.  He, of course, saw the dog.  He fell in love with it, as we had.  After that day, the FOB was his.  He was friends with everyone.  The entire battalion knew Scout, and he filled out in proportion to the amount of treats he recieved.  Care packages for him arrived in the hundreds.  I had more dog food in our connex than there was in the entirety of Iraq. 

In what seemed like a lifetime, the spectre of redeployment loomed close.  Normally that is a joyous occaision for a Soldier, no matter how much of a deployment junkie they are.  For us, it was a nightmare.  What would we do with Scout?  Who would take care of our 33rd man when we were gone?  He had suffered with us, missed sleep and meals with us, was one of us.  We couldn't abandon him.  After much searching for solutions, we came accross Operation Baghdad Pups.  It was a Godsend.  A collection of a meager $2,000.00 was collected from willing members of the platoon, which we in turn donated to the offshoot branch of the SPCA.  A mere two days after we left the FOB to go home, so did Scout.  After quarantines in Kuwait, Germany, and the United States, he arrived at the airport in Austin, TX to be picked up by my mother. 

Due to the fact that I am a Drill Sergeant, and dont have time to properly take care of a big dog like Scout, he still resides with my mom.  I dont think I'll ever get him back.  Everyone who ever meets him loves him; most of all my mother.  As I travelled to San Antonio today to visit some local high schools, I stopped in Austin to see my mom and my dog.  He was elated to see me, still remembering me like I see him every day.  She was pretty happy to see me too, I guess.  He is now a healthy, happy, big, loved dog.  He still shows a little of his Iraqi lineage, though.  He takes forever to accomplish anything.  He prefers to spend his time laying around doing nothing.

There are many things that make a Soldier's life a little more bearable while on deployment.  For those of us graced with an exceptional, understanding chain of command, a dog is truly man's best friend.

Scout in my arms the day we traded the AK-47 for him

Scout and me a few days prior to going home

Scout in the kitchen at my mother's house today

By the way, we got the AK-47 back the next day.  They already had one, so they didn't really need it anyway.