The Way - Back Home

A soldier fighting for his country and the little stray dog that stole his heart.

- Vanessa Papas

ONCE in a while a story touches hearts across the world. The tale of Sergeant Craig Grossi and his dog Fred is one such story.

When Craig, a member of an elite team of Marines, met Fred, a street dog from Sangin District in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, it was love at first sight. Craig knew full well it would be almost impossible to bring Fred back home to the United States with him, but he decided he would try anyway. Not deterred by the fact that, if caught, Craig would be thrown behind bars and Fred would be put down without question, Craig smuggled the dog out of Afghanistan, across the Atlantic, and into America.

Craig joined the human intelligence sector of the US Marines in 2003, serving his first tour in the middle of war-torn Afghanistan. After the tour he chose to leave the service, but it wasn’t long before he changed his mind. He re-enlisted again and was deployed for a second time to Afghanistan in 2010 in what would prove to be his most dangerous assignment. Just hours after he arrived, Taliban fighters set in and attacked his unit. For four days, he and his team fought tooth and nail to stay alive. At the time he and his team were in a region no Americans had been in in years. When the fighting finally subsided, he looked around and saw a dog with a big goofy head and little legs lying among the rubble.