Phos 

Rebecca's War Dog of the Week: UK paratroops trying to bring home Phos

Posted By By Rebecca Frankel Friday, April 22, 2011 - 11:10 AM

Best Defense Chief Canine correspondent (USA)

This week a British paper proudly called the Airdrie & Coatridge Advertiser reported that Sergeant Garry McMahon, a soldier from Airdrie with 3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment has been joined by the rest of his platoon on a final mission before they return home from Afghanistan: Bringing home with them the stray dog they adopted.
Phos, now a scrappy looking white and gray mutt, was saved along the other five puppies from an untimely death by a group of quick-thinking soldiers pulled a fast manoeuvre -- switching the box with the puppies in it and sending the six dogs out to different check points as pets."

Phos has been with Sgt. McMahon and his fellow soldiers since he was six weeks old and the dog has "been a part of our team ever since," accompanying the unit on patrols or "walkies." The unit's preparation to depart Afghanistan was complicated by the fact that the unit coming in has a strict no-pet policy. But the soldiers have grown "very fond of Phos," and they have no intention of leaving their beloved pup behind.

McMahon and company raised the money required to cover the cost of Phos's trip home. Here's the soldiers' note:

"We are members]of the parachute regiment in a small checkpoint in Afghanistan our dog Phos was part of a litter of pups born in the main camp whose mother went missing not long after they were born. ...That was in december so we've brought him up from an early age in not the best conditions, we've all grown very attached to him (no matter how may pairs of socks go missing) now and don't want him to get left behind when we go home as the following unit have a no pet policy and we don't want to give him to the locals who will cut off his ears and tail and use him for fighting. We think he should get the chance to come back with us to a good home in the UK and appreciate the help anyone can give us."

Report by Nowzad

July 2, 2011

Phos, Jack and Pegasus were all from the same litter of pups in Helmand.  They were taken in and cared for by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment.  Not long after they were all taken in an order to remove all from the base was issued so the pups were split up and sent out to different CP’s to be cared for.

Coming towards the end of the tour we got frantic requests from the soldiers to help get the dogs home to the UK so after a couple of weeks of complex planning and co-ordination the dogs arrived at the Nowzad shelter early in April 2011.

All 3 dogs made the trip back to the UK in May 2011.

Jack and Phos      Phos

  Winston.

Winston, was adopted as a puppy December 31, 2009 by  Royal Navy personnel in Um Qasr, Iraq 

He was found in Umm Qasr camp hiding by the bins, shivering and whimpering. He was alone by the bins, however outside the wall was a litter of puppies which are believed to have been drowned or shot.  He has been named Winston after Churchill because he is such a brave little fella.

Both of these lovely boys were helped to the UK by the work of Nowzad, a charity set up by ex marine Pen Farthing to aid animals in Afghanistan.

 You can read more about Nowzad and the work they do here www.nowzad.com/