thedrifter
10-14-08, 08:51 AM
Getting man's best friend home
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Wife raising funds to bring puppy to U.S. for deployed Marine husband's return
October 13, 2008 - 9:18PM
AMANDA HICKEY
Rachel Speranzi-Rusch wasn't jealous about her deployed husband's new friend - even after hearing it was a she.
Instead, Speranzi-Rusch is getting their household ready for the addition of Chunk, a female puppy given to her husband's unit in Afghanistan. Speranzi-Rusch's husband is deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. He requested his name be withheld due to security reasons.
She said she is certain they made the right move by getting Chunk to a shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan.
"(Chunk) and her two sisters and another puppy were given to (the Marines) as gifts by the locals," Speranzi-Rusch said.
The puppies were small and malnourished, her husband told her, but after a few months of eating Meals Ready to Eat with the Marines, they beefed up.
"That's where he came up with Chunk," Speranzi-Rusch said.
Chunk was with her husband through a lot, she said.
"But when you are seeing and doing the things they have and living that way, those puppies were probably one of the best things to come to them. Probably right when they really needed them. They needed each other. There is such a huge stray animal problem in those countries and it's not easy to combat that issue like it is here. I know my husband hopes he made a difference in Afghanistan, but if anything, we know we are making a difference for one sweet dog who deserves a good home, and she has definitely made a difference in our life," Speranzi-Rusch wrote to The Daily News.
The Marines were stationed in Garmsir, Afghanistan, when Chunk arrived. But when it came time for Speranzi-Rusch's husband to leave Garmsir, he wasn't sure how to bring Chunk along.
After three months of trying to figure out how to get her from Garmsir to Kabul, some pilots offered to fly her to Kandahar Air Field where an Army pilot got Chunk on a flight to Kabul and dropped her off with the manager of a shelter there, Speranzi-Rusch said.
The young couple lost their dog, Fritter, two years ago, when he was 16 years old. Speranzi-Rusch said she wasn't ready to get a new dog.
Chunk changed that.
"I made it my mission to get her home," Speranzi-Rusch said. "When she came around, it was like we were supposed to have her."
What she didn't count on was the amount of work - and money - that would be involved in getting Chunk to North Carolina.
While Chunk has been at the shelter getting the necessary vaccinations and paperwork before being allowed into the U.S., Speranzi-Rusch has been working at scraping together the $2,500 needed to get her on a plane, she said.
She raised $500 through a MySpace site dedicated to Operation Rescue Chunk, but wired the other $2,000 from the couple's account on Tuesday, she said. Speranzi-Rusch is hoping that she can find donations to help cover that cost.
Speranzi-Rusch expects to pick Chunk up at an airport in New York in plenty of time for Chunk to greet her adoptive dad, who is due back in a few weeks.
"We were talking about who he's going to hug first, and we decided he can hug Chunk first," she said with a laugh. "He's happy to be coming home, but even happier she'll be here."
For more information about Chunk's journey to the states, visit www.myspace.com/operation_rescue_chunk.
Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at ahickey@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8461. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie
Comments 1 | Recommend 0
Wife raising funds to bring puppy to U.S. for deployed Marine husband's return
October 13, 2008 - 9:18PM
AMANDA HICKEY
Rachel Speranzi-Rusch wasn't jealous about her deployed husband's new friend - even after hearing it was a she.
Instead, Speranzi-Rusch is getting their household ready for the addition of Chunk, a female puppy given to her husband's unit in Afghanistan. Speranzi-Rusch's husband is deployed with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. He requested his name be withheld due to security reasons.
She said she is certain they made the right move by getting Chunk to a shelter in Kabul, Afghanistan.
"(Chunk) and her two sisters and another puppy were given to (the Marines) as gifts by the locals," Speranzi-Rusch said.
The puppies were small and malnourished, her husband told her, but after a few months of eating Meals Ready to Eat with the Marines, they beefed up.
"That's where he came up with Chunk," Speranzi-Rusch said.
Chunk was with her husband through a lot, she said.
"But when you are seeing and doing the things they have and living that way, those puppies were probably one of the best things to come to them. Probably right when they really needed them. They needed each other. There is such a huge stray animal problem in those countries and it's not easy to combat that issue like it is here. I know my husband hopes he made a difference in Afghanistan, but if anything, we know we are making a difference for one sweet dog who deserves a good home, and she has definitely made a difference in our life," Speranzi-Rusch wrote to The Daily News.
The Marines were stationed in Garmsir, Afghanistan, when Chunk arrived. But when it came time for Speranzi-Rusch's husband to leave Garmsir, he wasn't sure how to bring Chunk along.
After three months of trying to figure out how to get her from Garmsir to Kabul, some pilots offered to fly her to Kandahar Air Field where an Army pilot got Chunk on a flight to Kabul and dropped her off with the manager of a shelter there, Speranzi-Rusch said.
The young couple lost their dog, Fritter, two years ago, when he was 16 years old. Speranzi-Rusch said she wasn't ready to get a new dog.
Chunk changed that.
"I made it my mission to get her home," Speranzi-Rusch said. "When she came around, it was like we were supposed to have her."
What she didn't count on was the amount of work - and money - that would be involved in getting Chunk to North Carolina.
While Chunk has been at the shelter getting the necessary vaccinations and paperwork before being allowed into the U.S., Speranzi-Rusch has been working at scraping together the $2,500 needed to get her on a plane, she said.
She raised $500 through a MySpace site dedicated to Operation Rescue Chunk, but wired the other $2,000 from the couple's account on Tuesday, she said. Speranzi-Rusch is hoping that she can find donations to help cover that cost.
Speranzi-Rusch expects to pick Chunk up at an airport in New York in plenty of time for Chunk to greet her adoptive dad, who is due back in a few weeks.
"We were talking about who he's going to hug first, and we decided he can hug Chunk first," she said with a laugh. "He's happy to be coming home, but even happier she'll be here."
For more information about Chunk's journey to the states, visit www.myspace.com/operation_rescue_chunk.
Contact Jacksonville/Onslow County reporter Amanda Hickey at ahickey@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8461. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
Ellie