From Baghdad, with love: a Marine, the war, and a dog named Lava

Love and hope often arrive in the strangest places and in the strangest ways. During his tour of duty in Iraq, LtCol Jay Kopelman of the U.S. Marines endured the emotional stress common for those involved in bloody battles for freedom. Skirting the rules forbidding pets, Kopelman and his comrades adopted an abandoned puppy left behind after the battle for Fallujah. The dog (named Lava) befriended the Marines and journalists and was eventually smuggled out of Iraq by the soldiers with the help of NPR reporters, John van Zante and the Helen Woodward Animal Center, Iraqi citizens, and the Iams pet food company. JAY KOPELMAN is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. Melinda Roth is a journalist and is the author of The Man Who Talks to Dogs.