While being stationed in Iraq, a Florida soldier rescued a stray dog. After staying away from the dog for quite a long time, she finally reunited with it. Tracy McKithern, a U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. was stationed in Kurdistan Training Coordination Center. She was appointed as a combat photographer when she met a small, dirty, and hungry stray pup Erby. As soon as McKithern laid her eyes on Erby, she fell in love with it. It was love at first sight!
The pup was given the name Erby Kasima, after the largest city in northern Iraq called Erbil. Erbil in Arabic means beauty and elegance. Moreover, McKithern and other soldiers took great care of Erby when they were stationed at the multinational military organization. They were happy to discover that Erby loved everyone. In an interview,McKithern revealed that Erby is a sweetheart. She went running to her immediately; maybe because she was hungry, and above all, she was looking for more than just food, maybe love.
From April 2017 to January 2018, McKithern was stationed in Iraq and every time McKithern would go with the soldiers to document the missions, Erby would eagerly wait for their return. As soon as Erby would see McKithern, she would run to her. Additionally, when McKithern’s date to return was approaching, she would wonder if she was able to take Erby back to the U.S. with her. One night she posted a picture with Erby on Facebook with a caption stating, wish she could take it with her back home. When she woke up the next day she was amazed to know that so many of her friends and family had posted the picture on various rescue groups.
The best part was that one of the groups were a non-profit Puppy Rescue Mission, who responded immediately. With the help of crowd-funding, McKithern was able to raise $4,500 needed for Erby’s vaccinations, documentation, and travel arrangements to the U.S. McKithern documented everything on her Instagram account.
McKithern returned to the U.S. without Erby but after a few weeks, with the help of other soldiers in Iraq, Erby was also sent to the U.S. However, before the arrival of Erby, McKithern received an order for a 67-day mission to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, starting the very same day Erby was scheduled to return.
She couldn’t believe it! She was devastated that she was going to stay away from Erby for another two months, but it was an important mission so she had to wait. When McKithern flew out to Wisconsin, her husband who was also a combat cameraman received Erby at the JFK airport in New York and took her back home. Finally, after months apart, McKithern reunited with Erby after the mission was over.