When Eduardo Choate Jr. found a sickly puppy in the middle of a dangerous highway in Afghanistan on March 18, he didn’t think twice about saving it.
As Choate and other men nursed the dog – a Labrador retriever mix later named Rocket Bubba – a sense of camaraderie developed in their International Police unit, which is comprised of law enforcement officials from across the United States hired to train Afghan police.
The group has no military branch affiliation.
“We went from a somewhat distant group of people to a close group that was sitting together, holding the puppy, talking and smiling,” Choate writes on Facebook. “It was funny to see grown (men) with weapons doing baby talk and petting the little guy.”
Choate, 30, a K-9 deputy for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, said Rocket Bubba defied the death that his comrades predicted would befall him.