DONATE YOUR DVDS
MOVIE MAKERS Students at Saint
Joseph High School in New Jersey
Mission: Entertain the wounded in Department of
have donated more than 300 DVDs.
Veterans Affairs medical facilities.
Background: A Connecticut doctor who visited can be used to rehabilitate troops
Afghanistan and recognized the recovering from traumatic brain injuries.
long-term rehabilitation needs of How to help: The group’s Web site will
seriously wounded vets founded DVDs help you fi nd a nearby VA medical facility
for Veterans in 2006. It has attracted that will accept your new or used DVDs.
support from Hollywood studios and However, “some hospitals have been
stars such as actor Kevin Costner. overwhelmed with donations while others
But you don’t need to be a celebrity are still showing old VHS tapes,” Baschkin
to donate the DVDs gathering dust under your TV. says. Any DVDs you send to the group’s New York headquarters will
“People think we want war movies, but the vets be forwarded to a facility where they are needed. All donations are
COSTNER
tell us they prefer comedies,” says executive director acknowledged with a receipt from the VA. The group does not accept
Laurance Baschkin. “If we can put a smile on their face, money but encourages you to buy and donate personal DVD players that
it really helps them.” vets can use in their hospital rooms.
Also in demand are children’s movies and educational programs, which Web site:
www.dvds4vets.org
The Dogs of War
T
HE MOTTO OF OPERA
TION BAGHDAD It’s also expensive. The animals must
Pups says it all: “No Buddy Gets Left be vaccinated 30 days before traveling,
BeBehind.” and there are boarding expenses for
These buddies, with names such as those who must pass through countries
Moody, Charlie, and Trigger, are among the that require quarantine. A donation of
growing number of stray dogs that U.S. troops $4,000 — the average cost of a rescue
are adopting in Iraq and Afghanistan. — connects a donor with an individual
PRIVATE POOCH Pets are offi cially frowned on,
Although the military soldier and pet. The group’s
offi cially frowns on the practice, Soldiers’
but much loved by the soldiers.
Web site, www.baghdadpups.
soldiers know that furry four- com, also has a wish list of
legged companionship can best friends
friends who were killed over there back home.”
pet supplies, such as shipping
Asked why the SPCA goes the extra mile to
be an amazing comfort in a crates, collars, food bowls, and
war zone. When the troops go get a plane
transport these military mascots from abroad
housebreaking pads. United
when there are so many needy animals here,
home, however, an animal left and Delta airlines are accepting
AP IMAGES
behind faces a grim future in ticket to
Scroggs says, “It’s about thanking the troops.
donations of blocks of 80,000
They see so much hope and joy in the animals
a war-torn society where dogs frequent-fl ier miles for the group’s
often become targets of abuse. the U.S.
that got them through the tough times.”
use.
One soldier who befriended a Baghdad
Operation Baghdad Pups
pup named Trigger said, “How can you be
began on Sept. 11, 2007, with an e-mail
down when there’s a smiling dog next to you?”
from a soldier who found a malnourished, D
uring the past year, Operation Baghdad
Pups has been a part of soldier stories
—T.A.
Y OF MARSHA CARGO / DOG/
fl ea-bitten puppy while patrolling the outskirts both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
TES
of Baghdad. His unit secretly adopted the The group was able to help an Army supply C
OUR
pitiful orphan and named him Charlie. specialist who began playing with a puppy she
STAYING UP
“Taking care of Charlie gave me something spotted while waiting in line to pick up aircraft
These true
/ POOCH/
to look forward to every day,” the soldier wrote. parts. When her weekly visits were interrupted dogs of war T
O
“When all the guys got to playing with him, for several months, she fi gured the dog had
have helped
we forgot where we were, the horrible things moved on, only to fi nd him still waiting to
our GIs.
T
OCKPHO
we had seen, and what we still had to go greet her truck. S
/IS
W
through.” “He jumped on me and loaded me with
A
Leaving their buddy, Charlie, behind was kisses,” the soldier says. “I knew I wanted to
not an option, the soldier wrote. do whatever I could to get this little guy out of
Charlie became the fi rst of more than 50 that horrible environment.” AP IMAGES / P
dogs and cats to reach the U.S. with the help Another unit, which lost fi ve of its
of the program, which is administered by members in a bomb attack, adopted a little
S
TNER/
O
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to mutt they found foraging near the barracks
Animals (SPCA) International. and named him Moody. “I think if Moody had
“The hardest challenge we face is getting not been around, there would have been a lot VDS4VETS / C
the animal from (the battlefi eld) to the of lost (souls) in the company,” one soldier
Baghdad airport because it’s dangerous and wrote in a request to the organization.
Y OF D
TES
the troops don’t have permission,” organizer Bringing him back “is one of the coolest
Stephanie Scroggs tells Newsmax. “It’s an things that someone can do for a
/
C
OUR
amazing logistical feat.” soldier. In a way, I get to take part of my
S
TUDENTS
60
NEWSMAX / DECEMBER 2008
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