It began with a simple act of kindness to save
an abused, injured dog from becoming one more victim in the Iraq
war.
But what followed for Marine Maj. Brian Dennis and the mutt was
a tale of friendship and loyalty that spanned miles and overcame
long odds - one set to take a turn Friday with the anticipated
arrival here of the Marine's best friend.
"This dog who had been through a lifetime of fighting, war,
abuse ... is going to live the good life," Dennis told his family
in an e-mail from Iraq.
The tale unfolded in October, a few months after Dennis deployed
to Iraq from San Diego to work as part of the military team
building infrastructure along the Syria-Iraq border and training
Iraqi forces to take over.
Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had volunteered for the
assignment. It was a departure from his role as a fighter pilot. He
had seen the country from the air, but it was different on the
ground.
Dennis wrote stories home about the reciprocal relationship that
desert dogs, strays wandering outside border towns, had with
Iraqis.
"The dogs get to eat the Iraqi scraps and have a home in the
middle of the desert," he wrote in an e-mail. "The Iraqis get an
incredible early warning system; these dogs hear anything
approaching from miles away and go nuts and scramble to defend
their territory."
While on patrol in the Anbar province, Dennis spotted what
appeared to be a gray and white, male German shepherd-border collie
mix. He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off
believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
Within weeks, Nubs was greeting Dennis during routine patrol
stops along border communities. The Marines fed him bits of their
food and by November, the Marine and his unit were keeping an eye
out for the dog, which routinely chased their Humvees when they
departed.
Life on the run, however, was taking a toll on the dog. He had
lost a tooth and been bitten in the neck. In late December, Dennis
found Nubs near death in freezing temperatures. The dog had been
stabbed with a screwdriver.
Dennis rubbed antibiotic cream on the wound and slept with Nubs
to keep him warm.
"I really expected when I woke up for watch he would be dead,"
Dennis wrote. "Somehow he made it through the night."
Dennis thought he had seen the last of the dog days later when
his squad headed back to its command post some 65 miles away. He
couldn't take the dog with him and watched as it tried to follow
the Humvees away from the border.
Two days later, while Dennis and a comrade were working on a
Humvee, he looked up and saw the dog staring at him.
"Somehow that crazy damned dog tracked us," he wrote Jan. 9.
But the reunion was short lived. Military policy prohibits
having pets in war zones, and Dennis was given four days to get the
dog off the base or kill him.
The decision was easy: Nubs was going to San Diego. The
logistics, though, were anything but easy.
With help from his Iraqi interpreter, Dennis managed to find a
Jordanian veterinarian to get the care and paperwork needed to get
the dog to the states. He also negotiated the red tape to get Nubs
across the border into Jordan.
His family and close friends helped raise the $3,500 needed to
get the dog from Amman, Jordan, to San Diego, said his mother,
Marsha Cargo.
"I just can't believe it. Out there in the middle of nowhere
these two find each other," Cargo said.
A colleague in San Diego agreed to care for the dog and have it
trained until Dennis returns in March from Iraq.
"We anticipate a real steep learning curve for Nubs," Capt.
Eric Sjoberg said. "We want him to learn to just be a dog."
For now, though, Dennis will settle for the knowledge that Nubs
is finally safe - and waiting for his master to follow him.