Army wives raise thousands to bring home 2 Afghan dogs beloved by soldiers

7/4/2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two stray dogs found comfort and companionship with a company of U.S. Army soldiers at a remote firebase in eastern Afghanistan. But as the unit prepared to return to Fort Campbell, the soldiers didn’t want to leave the dogs behind.

So their spouses back at the installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line have raised about $6,000 to fly the dogs from a war zone to their new homes.

Sonya Luedeman, one of the wives, says she was surprised by how quickly the donations came in after posting information about the dogs on Facebook.

They have enough money for one of the two dogs to fly back, but the spouses are still raising money. Both dogs remain in Afghanistan, but they are trying to get them home before the soldiers return this summer.