05-30-2009, 11:53 AM
Quote:Somewhere in Iraq today, a little yellow dog named Laia is starting the treacherous journey of a lifetime to the United States. She⿿s being saved thanks to Maj. Steven Hutchison, who adopted her, and SPCA International's Operation Baghdad Pups. But Hutchison himself won⿿t be part of the homecoming: He was killed by a roadside bomb May 10 outside Basra, just three months before he was supposed to return home to Scottsdale, Ariz. When she reaches the U.S., Laia will live with a friend's family instead.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31003571/
Even among the heroic tales of sacrifice of the nearly 5,000 troops who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, Maj. Hutchison stands out. At 60, he was the oldest combat death in either conflict. He was a decorated Vietnam vet with a doctorate in psychology. The father of two grown daughters, he had wanted to rejoin the military after the Sept. 11 attacks, but listened to his wife, who didn⿿t want him to go. After she died of cancer in 2006, Hutchison re-enlisted, with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as an adviser to Iraqi forces.
