A soldier’s dog sent home!!
Laia, happy to be stateside!!
Major Steven Hutchison at 60 is the oldest casualty of the war in Iraq. He was killed on May 10th of this year by a roadside bomb. However, the spirit of Major Hutchison will live on through his dog Laia, who he named after Princess Leia from Star Wars. Hutchison was a big Star Wars fan and even called his unit “Team Force”.
He had another love while in Iraq. and that was Laia. The dog was placed in his vehicle by another unit when they were moving out and told to abandon the dog. They couldn’t do it nor could Major Hutchison. Hutchison wrote and signed a memo authorizing the dog as a member of the unit and requesting it get shots from the base’s vet. He then took in the pup, letting her sleep in his bed and sometimes ride with him to meet Iraqi counterparts. Soldiers are not supposed to adopt pets, however, this soldier defied those orders and truly loved Laia.
Upon his death, the soldiers in Hutchison’s unit wanted to honor his memory and send Laia to the U.S., so the dog could have the quality of life that the Major would have wanted for her. Friends of Hutchison contacted Operation Baghdad Pups and coordinated the travel for this dog to come “home”. While Richard Hutchison will never see his brother again, he was so happy to see the dog arrive that had been so much a part of his brother’s life. The brother said, “Even though Steve’s not here, I know how much Steve loved the dog. You can kind of feel Steve through the dog. I can see something that he loved over here. I can see it here licking us.”
Laia arrived on Monday and will ultimately have a permanent home with another member of “Team Force” Richard Hutchison will visit the dog often, knowing this was an animal his brother truly loved.
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