God Bless Our Troops...God Bless Dogs
Timesunion – North Greenbush “Harris,” a six-month-old puppy with a shaggy coat, reunited with Army Maj. Drew Pinckney in leafy Rensselaer County Thursday night, capping a six-week journey from a desert outpost in western Afghanistan. Pinckney, 40, commanded a 12-soldier unit near the Iranian border, where the servicemen grew attached to a stray dog they named Sheba. The canine hung around the base and joined the soldiers on patrol missions. The New York Army National Guardsmen were among the only Americans within a 200-mile radius from January to August. Sheba provided them comfort, Pinckney said. On March 23, the 65-pound mixed breed gave birth to seven puppies in severely cold weather. As Sheba nursed her babies, she began to lose weight.The soldiers realized how important the dogs were to their mission. They built a shelter and brought Sheba food and water. Within weeks, the guardsmen were sharing their military rations and beef jerky. They called the puppies “The Magnificent Seven,” and named them Cadence, Rocky, Sarah, Jack, Buckeye, Breezy and Harris. “We were surrounded by just desert, gloominess and poor people who had lived really hard lives,” Pinckney said Thursday. “The dogs kind of served as a reminder of home, that there’s some good out there.”
The story does not end there. When the soldiers heard the U.S. military would close the combat outpost at Islam Qala, six wanted to adopt the dogs and take them home. They embarked on an expensive mission that ended late Thursday, when Staff Sgt. Edwin Caba of Long Beach, Nassau County, delivered Harris — the last pup awaiting a new home — to Pinckney’s five-acre property in North Greenbush.
God bless our troops. God bless dogs. Seriously besides being a gigantic pussy this is why I could never serve overseas. I’d be a wreck with all the homeless dogs. I’d try to take them all home with me and let them run free in a field filled with green grass and endless treats and toys. Like Puppy Bowl times a billion. Anyway this story is a perfect Segway for an email I got yesterday about a guy trying to adopt a dog from Iraq. It’s long, but read it and then donate.
From: Colin Sheedy
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2013 4:17 PM
To: tips@barstoolsports.com
Subject: Help Save a Dog from Afghanistan
El Pres,
I’ve been an avid reader of the site, and it has helped pass many days in cubeland at my current job. As an avid dog lover, I can completely connect/understand your point on the pure awesomeness of dogs and how they make life better. Besides my normal job, I’m currently in the Army National Guard here in Massachusetts, and have been for the past 6 years.
In 2011, I got to take a lovely vacation to Afghanistan, and it was a great time. Well, in Afghanistan, they treat dogs like crap. They kick them, beat them, shoot them, everything. It is often that you see dogs in the winter just frozen to death, and it sucks. I love dogs, and I could’ve cared less about their crap country…but the dogs pain killed me. I would often bring food like beef jerkey and cliff bars, and the little kids would run around and say “food mister, food” and I could careless, instead I would feed the dogs as best as I could. This isn’t just normal b.s., you can ask other guys in my unit that I was a dog man.
So, we found a little dog, who was a little puppy, and we named her Tessie. Well Tessie was the shit. We built a dog pen for her, and we would feed her chow hall food as well as dog food we had sent from home. She lived a solid three months from her. We decided we were going to send her home, and my wife and I were going to keep her. So we worked with a foundation called “Puppy Rescue Mission” and they helped us raise the money to send her home. I can’t say how huge this foundation is, and they helped us raise the money to send her home. Well, unfortunately when Tessie hit Kabul, she contracted Parvo (horrible disease) and died. The foundation though had another puppy that had been found, and offered him to us. So, we adopted the little guy, and his name is Pedey. He lives the life that all dogs should, and is often spoiled rotten based off the crappy memories of those dogs. Pedey eats steak tips, he has a pair of sunglasses, and he wears a Dustin Pedroia shirt. I give a constant stream of Pig Ears…because Muslims can’t have Pork…so it’s my way of keeping Pedey happy.
So, the reason I am writing you…being El Pres, you have pull, you love dogs, and you want dogs happy. We are trying to bring home another dog, the foundation reached out and stated they had a one year old girl dog that was on one of these bases where soldiers fell in love with her, but they couldn’t keep her. So, we volunteered. Problem is, it costs 3500 bucks to take one home. I’m hoping you can post this to Stoolies, and for the love of dogs being treated well coming from a shithole country, they’ll donate. If the Stoolies help out/you can help…I propose that the new girl can be the mascot of Barstool, and we’ll bring her to a barstool party. I mean we already have a picture of her in shades. Dogs name is Cotton, as she was found by a bunch of Southern soldiers. Cotton was in a crappy situation, so they rushed her home to avoid her getting killed off. Unfortunately my wife and I are trying to scramble to get the funds for her, as we don’t just have 3500 bucks sitting around. I’ve attached pictures of Pedey who was found in a trash can at 8 weeks old. He obviously is loving life now, and he is a pimp…he wants a girlfriend, so I’ll have my own Taliban wolfpack. I’ve included pictures of Pedey and Cotton (Cotton just hit Houston yesterday) as well as pictures of Cotton from yesterday.
If you don’t want to donate to me, just go to Puppy Rescue Mission and take a look. Soldiers looking to take dogs that made a difference during a shitty time.
If you don’t help, I understand…you probably get a million of these. I’m just thinking this is a cause you will like. If my description sucks, sorry, I’m not a professional by any means.
Here is the link to her donation page, please post or donate:
Sincerely,
Colin Sheedy
SSG US Army (11B)
Pictures of Pedey
Picture of Cotton (DONATION PAGE FOR COTTON)
