You're off to Iraq, soldier. Fido and Boots are gonna die.

[havocmom]

OK animal lovers and troop supporters, might be a good idea to look into how pets of deployed military personnel are handled in your area. Bad enough for troops to know they are being sent to hell by profiteering chicken hawks. Knowing their pets will most likely be put down soon on top of it seems a pain we ought not to add to their burdens.

Seems there is a problem with animal care when Johnny goes marching off, if the march starts from Fort Huachuca, AZ. The base shelter is not big enough to provide long term care for the critters left behind.

http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/dailystar/103118

Tucson animal rescuers are scrambling to find homes for nearly two dozen pets once owned by area soldiers - animals who faced imminent death because a tiny shelter at Fort Huachuca was at capacity.

"I don't want soldiers going overseas knowing that their animals are going to die," said Jacque Thompson, of Saving Animals from Euthanasia, a local rescue group that's appealing to the public to adopt or foster the 20 dogs and cats.

Veterinary staff members from the Sierra Vista Army post delivered most of the critters to Tucson late Wednesday, making the 150-mile round trip after work to spare the animals from being put to sleep
...

"We don't like to euthanize them if we can help it," Miller said, noting Fort Huachuca often holds such animals for 30 days while trying to find homes for them, even though the official time limit is three days.

Three days?!?! Here's your marching orders, soldier, want us to shoot your dog now?

People, we gotta make sure all soldiers' pets have good homes to go to. It'd be great if people would foster them and return them to their once their military people return and want them. But at least get them adopted so our troops can know the animals will be OK and live out their days well.

Make sure this isn't a problem facing military personnel in your area. Let them know we'll keep their furry pals safe and a light in the window for their safe reunion.

Damn, just damn...

[DS1]

1. I'd take in a soldier's pet

even, gulp, a dog.

[havocmom]

4. LOL ya ol softie!

I'm tellin...

DS1 has a heart!
DS1 has a heart!

:loveya:

[astonamous]

2. Thanks for posting this. I am going to copy and forward to

a network of rescuers nationwide. I have read stories like this going on all across the country. It sad, but you know what the military is going to say. "Uncle Sam did not issue you a pet".

I for one want to see these soldiers come home safe and sound and I want them to have that warm furry creature there to great them. OK, even the wet scaly ones.

Again, thank you for this info.

Trudy

[havocmom]

3. Thanks for jumping on this, Trudy.

Networks that rescue seem to be the best bet to help on this one.

There might be times, when a soldier in a dangerous place needs just one small hope to cling to to remain sane and safe. Thinking they will see a beloved pet could be that one thing for many. At least knowing the 'one they left behind' is alive and treated well would be some comfort, even if they didn't get the pet back.

We gotta take this one small worry off their shoulders.

Love is the answer to so many problems.

[trogdor]

5. Maybe those "support the troops" bastards can help.

You know which ones I'm talking about. Ribbon magnets, flag stickers, and damn anyone who says anything bad about * or his dumbass war, but if asked to pony up...

[astonamous]

8. I just thought of that too. I was outside and saw the damn

"Support the troops" ribbon on a car and wished I had something to put on their windshield to let them know that ribbons don't do shit. Don't get me started...I'm a vet, my husband is retired Air Force and he works at the local VA Hospital.

We have a great organization here in Utah called "No More Homeless Pets In Utah". Healthy animals are not put down, they are adopted. I volunteer with this group and know that our military members are not having to leave their animals behind without knowing they will be taken care of. Thank God!

Trudy

[egadsbrain]

6. Military Mascots, Operation Noble Foster

Here are the links to two groups that are focusing on just this problem:

Military Mascots
http://www.militarymascots.org/index.html

Operation Noble Foster
http://www.operationnoblefoster.org/

:patriot:

[Eagle_Eye]

7. Bush strikes again. The death never stops. Now solder's pets

are dieing in bush's war for oil.

[Algorem]

9. Cold-blooded war pigs.I saw they killed about 4,000 dogs that helped in

Vietnam rather than bring them back home-

Of the dogs that served with U.S. forces in Vietnam, about 280 were killed in action. Unlike the original K-9 Corps dogs of World War I and World War II, the rest of them did not return home. Concerns about disease and readjustment mandated that they be put down.

http://members.dandy.net/~lulu/wardatalist.html

reminded me of a song I heard last week about horses sent to war from Australia that the Australian war pigs wouldn't allow to be brought back-

AS IF HE KNOWS

It’s as if he knows
He’s standing close to me
His breath warm on my sleeve
His head hung low
It’s as if he knows
What the dawn will bring
The end of everything
For my old Banjo
And all along the picket lines beneath the desert sky
The Light Horsemen move amongst their mates to say one last goodbye
And the horses stand so quietly
Row on silent row
It’s as if they know

Time after time
We rode through shot and shell
We rode in and out of Hell
On their strong backs
Time after time
They brought us safely through
By their swift sure hooves
And their brave hearts
Tomorrow we will form up ranks and march down to the quay
And sail back to our loved ones in that dear land across the sea
While our loyal and true companions
Who asked so little and gave so much
Will lie dead in the dust.

For the orders came
No horses to return
We were to abandon them
To be slaves
After all we’d shared
And all that we’d been through
A Nation’s gratitude
Was a dusty grave
For we can’t leave them to the people here, we’d rather see them dead
So each man will take his best mate’s horse with a bullet through the head
For the people here are like their land
Wild and cruel and hard
So Banjo, here’s your reward.

It’s as if he knows, he standing close to me,
His breath warm on my sleeve, his head hung low.
As he if he knew.

Copyright Eric Bogle July 2001

http://www.horseoz.com/Horse_Talk/Eric_Bogle_-_As_if_he_knows/eric_bogle_-_as_if_he_knows.html

[Horse with no Name]

10. Seems like they need to get the word out

Was talking to my mom (who lives in Arizona) tonight and she had not heard about this.
She is going to call in the am and see if she can foster one.
My brother is in the Marines and she can't imagine how horrible it would be to not have control over where you go or what happens to your pet.
:cry: