SEATAC — The family of a 5th Stryker Brigade soldier has found a way to bring a stray dog rescued in Afghanistan home to Washington state.
Phil Bourillion of Puyallup found the then-4-month-old pup scrounging for food in a pile of trash one day near his unit’s base. He said late last year the dog was on her own.
He started caring for “Oso” and soon the dog and the rest of his unit were inseparable. Bourillion tells KOMO-TV that “No matter where we went, she would follow us.”
When his unit got transferred to another base, the soldiers hoped to bring Oso along but Army regulations prevented that.
So his wife Lena began trying to get the dog out of Afghanistan. With the help of family, friends and phone calls, she got Oso to Kabul, then to Pakistan, on a flight to New York and finally, on Tuesday, to a safe arrival at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Among those on hand to greet Oso was a soldier from Bourillion’s unit who is home on leave.
The rest of the unit is due back in five months.
Information from: KOMO-TV, www.komotv.com/
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