On the battlefields of Afghanistan, a Marine and a stray dog formed the most beautiful and unlikely friendship. And what they have accomplished together since finding each other is inspiring!
In 2010, Sergeant Craig Grossi was fighting for our country in a remote and dangerous part of Afghanistan. During the aftermath of one of the battles he fought in, Craig saw a dog hanging out nearby the compound that he was staying at.
“I’d be cleaning my gun or getting some water and I’d see him. He’d always make me smile,” explains Craig. “Something in me just told me to go up and approach this little dog. As soon as I got close to him, he started wagging his tail. He was hot, hungry, covered in bugs, and had absolutely no reason to show me any trust or love, but he did it right away. From that moment on, he followed me everywhere that I went.”
Craig named the dog Fred and they became the closest of friends. But it wasn’t just Craig who loved having Fred around. The other Marines with him benefited from having Fred nearby as well.
“The Marines that I was with, most of these guys have been deployed way more than me, and they have seen their fair share of street dog, but they, too, were not immune to Fred,” Craig says. “Whether it was 5 minuets or 5 seconds, when you spent time with Fred, he just stabilized us. He brought us almost a little piece of home.”
When Craig’s time to leave the warzone came, he knew he had to take Fred with him. So, he ended up sneaking Fred into a duffle bag and bringing him on a helicopter with him on his ride back to base! Then he sent Fred to the U.S. to live with his family for four months until he was able to return to American soil.
Adjusting to civilian life had some difficulties for Craig, and he found himself very unhappy with his life after coming back from war. But just like Fred helped Craig while he was in Afghanistan, he also came to his rescue when he was working in Washington, D.C.
“I started walking Fred around D.C. and little by little I started sharing our story with people at the dog park, people on the streets of D.C. when I lived in the city,” Craig shares. “The more I told it to people, the more I realized I loved telling it, and the more I realized people love hearing it.”
He soon turned his verbal stories into written ones, which soon became a book titled ‘Craig & Fred: A Marine, A Stray Dog, and How They Rescued Each Other'.
“The more I wrote, the better I felt,” explains Craig. “I realized it was kind of my duty to share this story, because there are so many ways that it could have gone really wrong for both of us, and the fact that it didn’t, it’s kind of our place to do our part to share it.”
Craig and Fred also tour around the country now, sharing the amazing story of their friendship at schools, libraries, and events. And they are doing such a great job at encouraging and inspiring others and remind people that “we can always dig deep and find a reason to wag our tails.”
