From Baghdad With Love

In the book From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth, the Lava Dogs saved a puppy’s life getting him out of Baghdad.  From the time the Lava Dogs see the puppy in the empty room, a bond between them start, especially for Lt. Kolman who at first follows General Order 1-A and won’t let the puppy get to close to him.  General Order 1-A states that no pets are allowed on base except military trained dogs like bomb dogs.  After thinking about it, Lt. Kolman and the Lava Dogs decide to take the dog anyway and name him Lava.  Slowly the Lava Dogs start to like having Lava around and decide to keep him and not put him out on the streets again.  After that, they cared so much about Lava that it was not an option to leave him in Baghdad when Lt. Kolman went back to the states.  

I thought Lt. Kolman and the Lava Dogs did the right thing by taking Lava back to the base and ignoring General Order 1-A because if they didn’t Lava would probably have been shot or blown up.  In addition, Lava could have starved to death because he is a puppy with almost no way of getting food.  Also, if the Lava dogs didn’t take Lava someone else probably would have found Lava in a building or on the street and would not have taken him with them because most people in Baghdad are afraid of dogs.  I think that Lt. Kolman must have loved Lava a lot because he saved Lava from going back out on the streets after he left by spending hours and hour’s arranging ways for Lava to go to the states.  But in the end, only one way worked.  Lt. Kolman and the Lava Dogs saved Lava’s life by taking him back to base and making sure he was fed and well taken care of, then sent him to the states where he would be safe.