CORPUS CHRISTI — When U.S. Marine Pfc. Colton Rusk was shot Dec. 5 by Taliban fighters, an unconventional Marine named Eli rushed to save his best friend.
“Eli crawled on top of him when he went down, and would not let anybody get near him,” said Yvonne Rusk, Colton’s aunt, who heard the story from fellow Marines.
Rusk, tall, lean and good looking, and Eli, 90 pounds of black fur and muscle, were buddies from the moment they met.
After Eli and Rusk, were deployed to Afghanistan, they were inseparable. There was that incident when Eli decided he should be able to eat in the chow hall like all the other Marines. He and Rusk had to find another place to eat that day. And when Rusk crawled into his cot at night, he had to beat Eli there because the dog has an aversion to sleeping on the ground.
http://www.caller.com/news/2010/dec/16/orange-grove-family-hopes-fallen-marines-bomb/