Sgt. Erin Guthrie met a very special stray dog during a peacekeeping deployment to Kosovo with the Oregon National Guard and formed an instant bond. However, eight months later, when Guthrie, 28, flew home, there was a special space in her heart that couldn’t be filled.
But with the help of a nonprofit called Paws of War, Guthrie was able to reunite with her companion.
Guthrie, who arrived in Kosovo in January, recalled her nerves dissolving quickly upon first meeting the stray during a morning run. Albeit wounded, his demeanor was calm and his tail was wagging.
“I could just tell ... he just wanted a friend and he didn’t have a pack, he didn’t have anyone he was with,” she explained. “I was honored that he would come up to me, and I just felt an instant connection with him.”
“I called out to him—and he jumped through razor wire, came to me,” she said. “He was so happy and friendly and he actually ran with me for all that day.”
The soldier and dog looked after one another, so leaving Meeka to return to the United States was really painful for Guthrie. After arriving back home, as Guthrie was in quarantine, she tried to adopt a dog stateside but quickly realized that the dog she wanted most was actually 6,000 miles away.
Determined to get her companion home, Guthrie connected with Nesconset-based Paws of War, a group dedicated to reuniting animals with the U.S. service members they bonded with during overseas deployments. To date, the group has transported over 100 animals to their forever homes in the United States.
However, Misseri assured, the reunions justify the struggle. “We feel it’s all worth it,” he said, “and, with all the bad going on in the world, this is something we can give back to do a little good.”
After providing comfort to Guthrie during her deployment, Meeka now gets to live out his days in the comfort of a loving home with his best human friend.