Photo By Darcy Marlett | Capt. Nate Neuman reunites with Snowflake, the dog his unit rescued in Afghanistan on...... read more read more
EDINBURGH, Ind. - It’s a long journey from Afghanistan to the U.S., especially if you’re a dog.
Unfortunately post policy stated stray animals are not allowed to live on the base due to health concerns and disease control. Knowing Snowflake would be euthanized if he continued to live on the base the soldiers looked for a way to save their dog.
Knowing what a comfort Snowflake had been to her fiancé and his fellow soldiers, Capt. Nate Neuman’s fiancé wrote an email to The Puppy Rescue Mission, an organization that raises money to bring soldier’s dogs to the US.
Soon a webpage was up with Snowflake’s picture and story and donations started coming in.
“Immediately money started being raised and people were donating, donating, donating, and we raised the money in about a week.” said Neuman.
Snowflake arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 26 and now lives in Mendon, Ohio with Mike and Bronwyn Leonardi.
Mike Leonardi has spent two and a half years in Afghanistan as a contractor for Oshkosh MATV. During his time oversees he had made friends with several dogs who hung around his base and was excited for the opportunity to adopt an Afghan dog.
When Leonardis heard that PRT Nangarhar would be demobilizing at Camp Atterbury, just one state over, they arranged for Snowflake to have a reunion with the unit.
On April 30 Snowflake arrived at Camp Atterbury to reunite with his Soldier family. The Soldiers crowded around to pet him, many remarking on how clean he was, a departure from his usual state in Afghanistan.
“As soon as you pet him you had to go wash your hands,” said Neuman.
The Leonardis also brought a special gift for the soldiers, travel coffee mugs with a picture of Snowflake on them so that they would always have a keepsake to remember him by.
“I’m going to show this to everyone I meet,” said Neuman.
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.14.2013 10:31 |
| Story ID: | 106880 |
| Location: | EDINBURGH, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 708 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, PRT Nangarhar reunites with base dog, by Darcy Marlett, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
