i Bringing a friend with him
Morning Sentinel
Bringing a friend with him
BY DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 03/12/2009

BY DOUG HARLOW

Staff Writer

It all began in February with an e-mail from an American soldier in Afghanistan to his mother in Maine.

"Hey mom -- I have to ask something of you," U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Pierce wrote to his mother, Deputy Madison Town Clerk Maddy Pierce. "I am bringing one of the dogs that we had as pets here, back home with me -- we have had three dogs since they were pups."

Sgt. Pierce, who has served two tours of duty in Iraq, is finishing a third tour, this one in Afghanistan. He is due home in a couple of weeks, but wants his dog, Sandy, to come home with him, his mother said.

The problem, she said, is that it is going to cost $2,900 to transport the dog by air from a shelter called Tigger House in Kabul, Afghanistan, to neighboring Pakistan, then to JFK International Airport in New York.

"If anyone could help, I would appreciate it," Eric Pierce told his mother in the e-mail. "Otherwise, I will not be able to save her. They will more than likely kill her."

Well, that was enough for Maddy Pierce and her husband Bill, who works for the Madison Highway Department.

"Yes, we're rescuing a dog, but with all the devastation over there, there's a reason that these men and women are attached to these animals," Maddy Pierce said. "It's a piece of comfort and a part of home, so yes, it's definitely rescuing the dog, but the bottom line is we're giving more to him for what he has sacrificed in the past several years for us.

"We have already raised $650, but need more in the next few weeks to make this a reality. I just think that with all that devastation going on, for them to cling to something like this and want to make a difference is wonderful."

The Pierces live across the Kennebec River from Madison in rural Embden, in Somerset County.

Eric, 27, graduated from Carrabec High School in North Anson in 2000 and immediately signed up for the Army, his mother said. He is stationed stateside at Fort Campbell, Ky., with the 101st Airborne, 506th Battalion of the U.S. Army.

The soldier said there is an organization that shelters and cares for animals in Afghanistan and they agreed to help ship Sandy and her two siblings -- Frank the Tank and Chuck the Truck -- home to America.

Maddy Pierce said the saga of Sandy's rescue began last month when her son's unit was preparing to redeploy for a return to the United States.

Soldiers with pets were told to get rid of them, as the unit which was to replace them would have no use for animals in a country already overrun with feral dogs.

But there had been a litter of puppies born seven months earlier, Maddy Pierce said, and the men kind of got attached to the little dogs.

"Three of them had hung around their base and they would feed them and it's been that way for the past seven months," she said. "The new unit said there were too many dogs around."

So rather than shoot the dogs, Eric Pierce, his commanding officer and another soldier took the three dogs 20 kilometers, or just over 12 miles, off base, down the road and dropped them off.

The commanding officer told the men that if one of the dogs returned, he personally would pay to have it brought back home, Eric Pierce told his mother in the e-mail.

"Well, four days later we had Frank the Tank show back up, so he is now saved and the CO is paying to have him brought back to the States," he wrote. "Two days after that, Sandy shows back up, so I am going to be paying to bring her back."

Chuck the Truck also returned to base and is on his way to the States.

Maddy Pierce said she sent e-mails to friends and family members to help raise the money to bring Sandy to Maine and established a bank account for contributions:

Sandy's Rescue Fund

c/o Maddy Pierce

Skowhegan Savings Bank, 188 Main St., Madison, ME 04950

"She's part Lab and they're not sure what else," Maddy Pierce said.

To bring a dog to the United States, each animal needs to have its rabies and other vaccinations up to date and be in good health with good veterinary records, said Pam Constable, an American woman who started a small nonprofit operation that helps find shelter, medical care and adopted homes for dogs and cats in Afghanistan.

Constable is one of the people assisting Eric Pierce and the other soldiers to get their dogs back stateside, she said.

"They need to belong to someone in the States and they need to be old enough to travel, which should be about six months of age," Constable said.

Some countries, including the United Kingdom, have extra requirements and a quarantine, she said.

Constable said the dogs are usually shipped as commercial cargo; the cost depends on the size and weight of the travel crate with the animal in it.

"Dogs are semper fi," Constable said, referring to the U.S. Marines slogan "Semper Fidelis," meaning "Always Faithful."

Terry Day, of Beverly, Mass., Maddy Pierce's longtime friend who was considered an aunt by Eric when he was growing up, said she is willing to help.

"When Eric put the plea out to friends and family to help him get this orphaned dog back to the United States and after reading the extraordinary story behind it, it was an effort that I knew I just had to help with," Day wrote to the Morning Sentinel via e-mail. "Let's see, Eric dedicated eight years of his life to protecting us and preserving our freedom and all he is asking is for us to help save a lonely little dog that will be destroyed if something isn't done, did I get this right?

"Well ... I think that we all can dig a little deep and come up with the money to help out."

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534, ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com

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