Soldier reunited with dogs

[DrReality]

Injured soldier reunited with K-9 hero

ShareThisPrint E-mail By Chelsea Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An injured Army Guardsman home from Afghanistan was reunited Thursday with two of the heroes that saved his life in February, but there were no handshakes or salutes. There was, however, a lot of tail wagging.

Sgt. Christopher Duke, originally from Franklin, Ga., submitted a "wish" to non-profit organization Hope for the Warriors to adopt the dogs he had befriended at his forward operating base in Paktia, Afghanistan. After hearing the story of how Rufus, Sasha and Target saved his life, the organization couldn't say no.

"That night was just like any other night," Duke told the AJC on Thursday. "I was using the Internet. My roommates were in our room ... playing cards, and they heard the dogs going crazy, barking and growling, which was abnormal. They yelled, ‘Be quiet! Stop barking!"

The dogs were barking at a suicide bomber strapped with 25 pounds of C-4 explosives. Had he made it any closer to the entrance of the camp, the soldiers may have lost their lives.

"Almost instantaneously, the guy blew up," Duke said. "In my belief, after looking around and doing research, the dogs were trying to keep harm from coming to us."

Duke suffered serious shrapnel wounds but walked away from the explosion. Sasha, one of the strays, lost her life.

"The U.S. Army spends unlimited amounts of money to make sure we have the best equipment, the best weapons, the best armored vehicles," Duke said. "And the one thing that saves your life is a free-of-charge mutt that you really don’t do much but pay him attention and give him a piece of jerky every now and then. It's kind of strange. It was surreal."

Duke and his wife, Lauren, both dog lovers, recently learned they are expecting a child. Duke said this only compounded the meaning behind that night on Feb. 10.

"I owe them so much, not just for my life, but since returning, we now have a child on the way, which wouldn’t be possible without that happening," Duke said. "He's not only saved my life, but helped create life for somebody else."

Duke and his wife will take Rufus and Target back to Franklin before Target is adopted by a medic who also was at the camp the night of the explosion.

"He sent me pictures of Rufus when he was over there, so I feel like I know him," Lauren Duke said. "We have three other dogs. He'll be right at home with us."

Hope for the Warriors will cover the estimated $3,000 to get the dogs to their new owners, a news release said. The dogs were flown an estimated total 25 hours -- from the base in Paktia, to Kabul, to Pakistan, to New York, and finally to Atlanta. The flight was made possible by a pet airline service called Pet Airways.

Robin Kelleher, spokeswoman for Hope for the Warriors, said Duke's "wish" was different than others she has received from injured soldiers.

"We've built multiple pools in the homes of injured soldiers for rehabilitation purposes. We recently granted a fairytale wedding in Hawaii for a soldier," Kelleher told the AJC. "This is the most unique wish we've ever granted."

How were the stray dogs tracked down once Duke and the other soldiers came home?

"Another group replaced the injured men, and the fiancee of one of those soldiers, she put Hope for Warriors into contact," Kelleher said.

As Rufus and Target get acclimated to life in the United States, Duke said all he really wants to do is get them home.

"I want to take them everywhere and show them to everybody," he said, "but I’ll probably just take them home and let them relax from all of this attention they're getting

[drzachary]

It just got a little dusty in here.