ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Puppies, capable of devastating cuteness, possessing boundless energy, and — in this case — creating a unique bond between four Alaska Air National Guardsmen.
Alaska Army National Guard Sgt. Sam Barnlund, Spc. Mike Miller, Pvt. Summer Osterback, and Pfc. Alan Borbridge all deployed as part of Operation Typhoon Halong, providing disaster relief to villages in Western Alaska. They didn’t anticipate bringing home a new companion, but after helping transport dozens of dogs, the idea started form.
“I think it could be said for all of us, the more groups of dogs that started to appear, the further likelihood there was to get a dog for one of those groups,” Barnlund said.
So, all four of them took home a new puppy — only months old, and all from the same litter in the village of Tuntutuliak. The puppies’ names are Sky, Nilla Bean, Riley and Ripley.
The group of four guardsmen were not all acquainted before hand, but with their newfound friends — both two and four legged — they say they hope to continue to keep the four together.
“We kind of all knew, we were going to take one of the dogs home with us, which was kind of nice because you know that they’re going to a good home and then knowing that they can still kind of grow up together and play with each other,” Osterback said.
“When it comes to being in the military, there’s a lot to be said about taking pieces of home with you to the military side,” Barnlund said. “And a lot of the times that’s at some point of sacrifice. And it’s super rare that we can have a piece of our service, our military time and bring it back to the civilian side and bring it home, and it not be at a sacrifice, but at the benefit of an innocent animal – of an innocent creature that was able to make it out of a very dire situation.”
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