During Mark’s time in Afghanistan, we saw many pics of dogs that he and many of his teammates loved.
The pictures below are from one of Mark’s teammates, Ben King. These puppies were born in an abandoned ammo bunker on July 4, 2010. Their mother is Deuce and father is Eddie, who is a legend at Cobra. We have heard many stories about Eddie–how he was a ladies man, to going out on combat operations, to being involved in several fire fights while outside the base with the team. You can learn more about Eddie from a previous post by clicking HERE.
Mark quickly took to this dog and named her Dixie.
Below are Dixie and Satchel. From what we understand, Mark, and teammate Josh Christy, planned to do everything they could to bring them back to the states and give them a decent life. Josh remained at Cobra several months after Mark, so he became very close with these dogs, especially the one he adopted, Satchel. The team stepped up after Mark’s death and took care of Dixie. Josh raised money and brought both dogs home earlier this year.
If anyone has updates on these dogs, please let us know. We know they both made it to the states and are told that Satchel is with Josh in CA, and Dixie is with teammate Danny Tanner in FL. Danny is working to get us ‘the rest of the story’ soon.
We have heard other stories of families of the fallen getting their son’s dog brought back from their deployed areas. It’s expensive and we think it almost takes an act of congress. These dogs bring much comfort and entertainment to the men and women deployed and to their families at home.
