Tragic loss: Liam Tasker was on patrol with his dog Theo at the time of the attack in Nahr-e-Saraj, Afghanistan
Posted on 03/03/2011 2:25:28 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
L/Cpl Tasker was the 358th serviceman killed in the conflict while his dog Theo was the sixth British military hound to die in action in Iraq and Afghanistan In life, they were united in their tireless work saving countless British soldiers in Afghanistan. In death, they were united in tragedy. Shortly after Lance Corporal Liam Tasker was killed in a firefight with the Taliban, his devoted Army search dog Theo suffered a seizure and passed away too.
The pair had uncovered 14 home-made bombs and hoards of weapons in just five months – a record for a dog and his handler in the conflict.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well, they are together now.
I gotta call AlienWare tech support.
Suddenly, my screen’s all messed up.
*sniffle*
The bible tells us agonizingly little about the supernatural attributes of pets and other non human earthly creatures. The New Testament goes further than the Old, suggesting a future redemption of the entire creation from its bondage to decay. If that is literally meant, Heaven would seem to have a kind of zoo in it, a zoo with no fences and walls and no danger. And the animals will bark and meow and howl and roar their everlasting praises to God. Since animals do not have a moral sense in the way that humans do, it is not possible for even a “vicious” animal to incur guilt of sin — there would be no animals in Hell.
Damnit... Don’t make me cry, man...
This is why we woke up this morning free. God bless all of our children in war (and their dogs).
That is just plain sad....
The picture of him holding his beloved dog says it all. What a special team they were.
Sad story. I almost died when my precious Yankee died suddenly. Still throw him treats where I buried him.
The Monks of New Skete speculate on this very matter:
"Do the bonds of relationship extend beyond this life?
We have no proof, one way or another. But there is a depth to our experience that awakens faith, faith that in the mysterious character of life ultimately nothing of real value will ever be lost. Our closest relationships, both with humans and with dogs somehow point beyond themselves, leading us to hope that there is indeed something of the eternal present in them."
OH wow! I had always hoped my dear departed animals would be with me someday in Heaven but I have never read the scripture. Could you give me the passages?
In tears here.
As I sit here brokenhearted at the loss of a great soldier and his friend...
RIP Cpl Tasker, but don’t worry, Theo is waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for you.
There are horses in heaven since Jesus and 10 thousand of His saints come riding out of heaven riding them.
If there are horses in heaven, that tells me by God’s nature, that there are other animals in Heaven as well.
I cannot imagine my dog Buddy not in heaven waiting for me!!!
Prayers up for Liam and Theo.
I can’t help but to recall that our PRES__ENT so strongly vowed to win and end this war, decisively and quickly. Little did we all know what his decision was, and that it is, but for the agony and pain of our troops, already over.
Promise kept.
"First came bright Spirits, not the Spirits of men, who danced and scattered flowers. Then, on the left and right, at each side of the forest avenue, came youthful shapes, boys upon one hand, and girls upon the other. If I could remember their singing and write down the notes, no man who read that score would ever grow sick or old. Between them went musicians: and after these a lady in whose honour all this was being done.
I cannot now remember whether she was naked or clothed. If she were naked, then it must have been the almost visible penumbra of her courtesy and joy which produces in my memory the illusion of a great and shining train that followed her across the happy grass. If she were clothed, then the illusion of nakedness is doubtless due to the clarity with which her inmost spirit shone through the clothes. For clothes in that country are not a disguise: the spiritual body lives along each thread and turns them into living organs. A robe or a crown is there as much one of the wearer's features as a lip or an eye.
But I have forgotten. And only partly do I remember the unbearable beauty of her face.
“Is it?...is it?” I whispered to my guide.
“Not at all,” said he. “It's someone ye'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith and she lived at Golders Green.”
“She seems to be...well, a person of particular importance?”
“Aye. She is one of the great ones. Ye have heard that fame in this country and fame on Earth are two quite different things.”
“And who are these gigantic people...look! They're like emeralds...who are dancing and throwing flowers before here?”
“Haven't ye read your Milton? A thousand liveried angels lackey her.”
“And who are all these young men and women on each side?”
“They are her sons and daughters.”
“She must have had a very large family, Sir.”
“Every young man or boy that met her became her son – even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”
“Isn't that a bit hard on their own parents?”
“No. There are those that steal other people's children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more. Few men looked on her without becoming, in a certain fashion, her lovers. But it was the kind of love that made them not less true, but truer, to their own wives.”
“And how...but hullo! What are all these animals? A cat-two cats-dozens of cats. And all those dogs...why, I can't count them. And the birds. And the horses.”
“They are her beasts.”
“Did she keep a sort of zoo? I mean, this is a bit too much.”
“Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.”
I looked at my Teacher in amazement.
“Yes,” he said. “It is like when you throw a stone into a pool, and the concentric waves spread out further and further. Who knows where it will end? Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength. But already there is joy enough int the little finger of a great saint such as yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life."
~C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, Chapter 12 (1946)
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