Soldier KIA, But Adopted Puppy Comes to America

An Army major killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq has left a canine legacy—Laia, a stray puppy who made it back to America, the Los Angeles Times reports. Working on a transition team, Steven Hutchison found the dog loafing around his vehicle after a meeting. “Maj. Hutchison was hooked,” Sgt. Andrew Hunt says. "She slept in his bed with him at night and napped under his bed during the day.”

Adopting Laia in a war zone wasn't Hutchison's only quirky act. A Vietnam vet, he signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq despite his liberal politics; he had a PhD in psychology; he jogged around the Iraq base in purple "short shorts" despite official warnings; and he was 60 years old. Hunt, Hutchison's comrade, plans to visit Laia at her new home in Michigan. "Like Maj. Hutchison, you cannot tell Laia what to do." (More Iraq war stories.)