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Friday, September 30, 2005
Pellet the good luck hamster
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Camp Taji, Iraq — Pellet the hamster has seen more of war-ravaged Iraq than most fury varmints.
That’s because the brown and cream-colored Beanie Baby is zip-tied to the hood of a Humvee. He sits there on his rump with his arms outstretched and his tiny pink hands open, almost as if he is expecting to catch something.
With good reason.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Sgt. Russell Dinkins of Darien attachs “Pellet” to Humvee before mission.
In this month alone, a car bomber killed an Iraqi soldier at the entrance to this base and a U.S. civil affairs soldier was killed by a roadside bomb just north of here. Insurgents occasionally attack the camp with rockets and mortars.
Sgt. Russell Dinkins tied Pellet to the Humvee Thursday morning.
“It’s a good luck symbol I guess,” said Dinkins, 35, a father of three who lives in Darien and is a mechanic at Fort Stewart.
Dinkins brought Pellet’s twin brother to a briefing before his convoy rolled out on a mission. The hamster sat atop the butt of his rifle.
“He has to listen for safety’s sake,” joked Staff Sgt. Mark Burns, 38, a full-time Georgia National Guard soldier from Jesup.
Pellet held on the rest of the morning, traveling along country roads lined with date palm trees, across the Tigris River and through the rubbish-strewn streets of Husseiniya.
He visited the future site of a municipal courthouse the U.S. government plans to build for the Iraqis. He stopped by a farming cooperative seeking U.S. taxpayer funding. And he watched as soldiers handed out other Beanie Babies, candy and school supplies to little boys stepping around piles of garbage. The children begged and tussled for more goodies but never reached for Pellet.
The hamster made it through the day without a scratch.
But he is now covered in a fine coat of talcum powder-like sand.
author=JEREMY REDMON
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