Camp Pendleton Marine Reunited With Afghan Puppy

She comforted him and his Marines while they served in Afghanistan, and now the Afghan dog Nolay is in her "furever" home with her permanent owner, Master Sgt. Joshua Roth of the 1st Maintenance Battalion, Engineer Maintenance Company.

Nolay arrived late Sunday night at San Diego International Airport.

"She was a puppy when we got her," said Roth. "Came to us while we were out at Forward Operating Base up in the Sangin District [of Afghanistan]. The FOB's name was Nolay. A couple Marines that were out on post one night, around the time that I got there in January, saw a group of kids during the day, out getting all rambunctious and screaming and yelling and they [the Marines] heard the dog whimpering noises. One of the Marines went down where the kids were and and saw that they were roughhousing, abusing, whatever, treating these dogs really rough."

He looked back at his fellow Marine who he was on post with, gave him a nod and picked up the two dogs and took them to their base, Roth said.

"Before I left FOB Nolay and went back to the main base, I got online and was just looking for any information as I could to try and find some assistance," said Roth. "I found some names and email addresses and I sent off some emails, and I got some replies that linked me to some folks in Kabul that run a shelter there. The place was called Tigger House."

Through Tigger House, Roth was able to connect to the Puppy Rescue Mission's Facebook Page. Their mission is to help service members from all branches reunite with their adopted Afghanistan animals.

"They find a companion like Nolay [in forward operating bases], and help them get them back ... and give to them a lot of what they gave to us," he said.

Donors helped raise some $3,700 for Nolay's trip through the Web payment service Paypal.

Many of the donors on Puppy Rescue Mission's page are former military and have sons and daughters who are active duty military personnel, said Roth. They understand the value of that kind of relationship between a person and an animal.