Watch: Dog Rescued In Iraq Welcomes Soldier Home To St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – It’s been seven months since Erby Kasima last saw her owner, U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Tracy McKithern of St. Petersburg.

But even a puppy would have a hard time forgetting the person who rescued her from starving to death in war-torn Iraq.

McKithern was stationed at the Kurdistan Training Coordination Center. The center was home to a multinational military organization responsible for the training of Peshmerga and Northern Iraq Security in and around Erbil, Iraq, from April 2017 to January 2018.

Before she arrived, the soldiers at the base had begun feeding an abused and malnourished dog and her three puppies that had been hanging around, looking for scraps.

By the time McKithern was deployed to Erbil, two of the three puppies had disappeared. But the mother dog continued to bring her only remaining puppy to the base for food and belly rubs.

McKithern, along with soldiers from the Italian and German armies her unit was partnered with, began looking after the mother and puppy. They named the puppy Erby Kasima, after nearby Erbil, the largest city in northern Iraq, and “Kasima” the Arabic name for “beauty and elegance.”

“I fell in love with her immediately,” said McKithern, a combat photographer with the 982nd Combat Camera Co. (Airborne) who grew up in San Antonio, Texas.

Stray dogs are common in Iraq and are considered a nuisance. Erby and her mom were routinely kicked and hit with rocks.Despite her ill treatment at the hands of humans, however, Erby ran right up to McKithern the first time she held out her hand to the little white dog covered in scratches and dirt.

“She loved everyone,” said McKithern. “She is the sweetest little soul. She came up to me immediately, probably hungry, but gentle. I think she was looking for love more than anything else.”

The coalition soldiers would go on convoys into the surrounding countryside to train Iraqi army units six days a week, with McKithern documenting the missions. Every time they returned to the base, Erby was waiting.

“She ran up to our convoy every day,” McKithern said. “She was so tiny she would fall and trip all over herself to get to us.”

As the weeks went by, the wounds on the mother dog and puppy began to heal and they started putting on weight.

Eventually, the puppy began sleeping on the step outside McKithern’s quarters.

As the end of her deployment approached, McKithern started to worry about leaving Erby behind and discussed her concerns with friends on her Facebook page.

“One night I posted a pic of us on Facebook, with a caption that read something like ‘I wish I could take her home,’” McKithern said. “I went to sleep, woke up and my friends and family had posted links to various rescue groups. I reached out to one of them, the nonprofit Puppy Rescue Mission, and they responded immediately. We sent them $1,000 and they set up a crowd fund to get the rest. We needed an additional $3,500.”

McKithern said the outpouring of generosity amazed her.

“We raised the rest of the money very quickly, and most of it was from complete strangers,” she said.

It’s not easy to make arrangements to transport a dog out of the country. There are vaccinations, documentation, travel arrangements and a laundry list of other details that need to be done.

McKithern began to feel overwhelmed.That’s when the coalition stepped in to help.

Several Kurdish and German officers McKithern had befriended on missions stepped in and offered to help with the complicated logistics required to get Erby on a plane to the United States.

McKithern returned home, and Erby was set to follow her several weeks later.

However, before Erby arrived, McKithern received orders for a 67-day mission to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, leaving March 11, the very same day Erby was scheduled to arrive at JFK Airport.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said McKithern. “But I’m a soldier first, and need at Fort McCoy was desperate at the time. It killed me that it was going to keep me away from Erby for another two months, but it was an important mission.”

McKithern’s husband, Sgt. Wes McKithern (also a combat cameraman for the 982nd), met Erby for the first time at Tampa International Airport and drove her home where Erby's been enjoying such luxuries as days at the beach, her own kiddy pool to splash in and relaxing on upholstered furniture.

After being separated by thousands of miles for seven months, McKithern and Erby were finally reunited at Tampa International Airport on Wednesday, May 16.

McKithern doubted that Erby would remember her. Erby’s response upon spotting McKithern at the airport said otherwise.

Erby joyfully bounded over to McKithern.

"Do you remember me?" McKithern asked the dog in a video of the reunion. "I remember you."

Erby responds by jumping on McKithern, covering her with kisses and then laying down for the belly rubs she knew McKithern would give her.

“I can’t believe it,” said McKithern. “It feels like a miracle is happening. I haven't seen her since Nov. 7. She was maybe a quarter of the size."

McKithern said her next mission is to bring Erby's mom to the U.S. too.

To see more photos of Erby in Iraq, visit the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Facebook page.

Video courtesy Tampa International Airport

Photos and b-roll courtesy of Tracy McKithern and the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service