From Baghdad with Love by Jay Kopelman (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

“You can understand why there’s an order banning pets, because the Marines are supposed to be concentrating on one thing and one thing only, and I mean we understand why there are rules about this, and I know we need to focus on this pet adoption project, but, but you should read the e-mails, like, I can’t imagine what is going on around them over there, and here’s a man who was one of our neighbors who is in the middle of a war zone and discovered a life that needed saving and I mean, no matter how you feel about the war, in the middle of this, this horrible battle in Fallujah . . .”

He paused and caught his breath.

“. . . life still matters.”

When he finished, John sat back in his chair and searched for air.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

December 2004

Camp Fallujah

Once I decide to save Lava, it becomes an unprogrammable mission I don’t have the smarts to reassign or the guts to walk away from. Only problem is, the enemy doesn’t hide out in abandoned buildings whispering Jihad; it hangs on the wall of the command center and ticks.

I have forty-eight hours before I leave for Balad, which means I have exactly 2,880 minutes to get approval from brass to transport a puppy on a military flight with Buck, find a veterinarian who will give Lava vaccinations, and then find a way to get Lava to the vet and back in one piece.

I’ve been exchanging e-mails with this guy named John Van Zante who works for an outfit called the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe. He seems like a nice enough guy and claims the center will try to help Lava and me out. Why? I don’t know and don’t have time to ask.

During the next two days I grab a computer wherever I can, either in one of the offices or in the command center—a huge, high-ceilinged room with dimmed lights and projectors that are on all the time, showing where our troops are by displaying images from the unmanned drones flying around Fallujah. There’s also this big clock on the wall.

The Command Center: John Van Zante e-mails me that Iams pet food company wants to help me in any way it can. John and Iams’s external relations manager, Kris Parlett, are contacting everyone they can think of—including the entire California congressional delegation—to find the name of an Iraqi veterinarian for me. “We’re doing everything we can to bring your puppy home,” John writes.

The Officers’ Building: I shove some gear around, pretending I’m packing. Cammies: check. Ammo: check. Socks: check.

I look at my watch. If I run at my best speed, I can get across base, see Lava, and be back at the computer within thirty minutes. Soap: check. Razor: check. More ammo: check.

But I can’t spare thirty minutes just to feed the emotional weakness that’s surfaced in my life. Three pictures of Lava: check, check, check.

The Command Center: John Van Zante and Kris Parlett have found an Iraqi veterinarian. Corks unpop in my head. This vet, Dr. Farah Murrani, is well known for helping stray animals. She worked with US military in Baghdad when the city’s zoo was bombed and, with the help of the US Army, formed the Iraqi Society for Animal Welfare in January 2004.

At that point Dr. Murrani was increasingly seen as a pro-US collaborator, and when two of her friends who acted as interpreters for the United States were shot and killed, she fled Iraq for the United States. She’s willing to help, according to the e-mail forwarded to me:

This is Dr. Farah Murrani from Iraqi Society for Animal Welfare in Baghdad, I got the e-mail you sent to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. If the puppy owner in Baghdad can take the puppy to ISAW, they will be able to provide all the needs including a health certificate. ISAW is based in: Baghdad, Zawra Park, across the road from Baghdad Zoo. Let them contact me for any questions on my e-mail address.

A “milk run” is leaving Camp Fallujah for Baghdad tomorrow, and while theoretically I could get Lava on the convoy and be back in time to get him to Buck, milk runs to Baghdad are susceptible to all kinds of problems—hit and runs, mostly—and coordinating the trips doesn’t always go as planned. Besides, they’d have to hide Lava in one of the vehicles, and knowing him he’d make sure every commanding officer in the convoy knew he was there ready to protect against all enemies.

If we can get Lava to Baghdad and if he gets his vaccinations and if he gets backs in time to get on Buck’s flight, John Van Zante says Iams will pay all the expenses.

It’s a long, unfocused shot, but with time running out, it’s the only shot I have.

The Command Center:

Dr. Murrani, I am the Marine trying to get the puppy to a vet in Baghdad. I might have an opportunity to do so tomorrow (Wednesday) here in Iraq. I’d have to have them meet me somewhere in the International Zone, and would have to leave the puppy in their care for a month or so—I’ll gladly pay any expenses (medical care, food, etc) and make a donation to your clinic or the Baghdad Zoo as a token of my appreciation—until I can pick it up again after my next assignment. If this is suitable, please let me know, and please provide me with the e-mail ­address of the person I should contact in the morning. Thank you in advance for your assistance. All the Marines have become very fond of Lava, as we are calling him, and want him to have the best possible care.

The Command Center: No response yet from Dr. Murrani.

The Command Center: No response yet from Dr. Murrani.