“Whatever is mine is his,” Marine Corps Pfc. Colton W. Rusk wrote about Eli, his military working dog, in the final days of their deployment in Afghanistan. On Feb. 3, Private Rusk's family helped prove his words true when they adopted the black Labrador retriever in a retirement and adoption ceremony at the military working dog school here.
After 20-year-old Private Rusk was killed Dec. 5 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, by Taliban sniper fire, Marines officials told Darrell and Kathy Rusk, his parents, that Eli, his infantry explosives detector dog, crawled on top of their son to protect him after he was shot. The Rusks drove to Lackland Air Force Base from their home in Orange Grove, Texas, along with their sons, 22-year-old Cody and 12-year-old Brady; Private Rusk's aunt, Yvonne Rusk; and Jan Rusk and Katy and Wayne O'Neal, Private Rusk's grandparents.