Have you ever done something that was against the rules? Perhaps try to protect something or maybe believe that a certain something could protect your sanity? That is exactly what Colonel Jay Kopelman, in From Baghdad with Love, did. He kept a puppy, even though it was against the rules, because he wanted to protect it and believed that this puppy could protect his sanity.

Colonel Jay Kopelman kept this puppy, against Marine regulation, because he wanted to protect it. He wanted to protect Lava because he always portrayed an innocence that the Colonel couldn’t resist. It also hurt the Colonel when he saw a pack of stray dogs eating a dead body of battle, and imagined that Lava could become one of them. That one day, Lava would lose his innocent boot lace biting habits and trade them in to become a ruthless creature that was struggling to survive in the war zones, if Kopelman left him behind. So, he took Lava in and took care of him, hoping that he would be preserving the cute puppy’s innocence and protecting him from the cruel war outside.

Another reason why Kopelman kept Lava was because he believed the puppy could protect his sanity. He believed this because Lava kept his mind off all the death and destruction of the war. Such as he states in Chapter 1 pg 7 “I liked not caring about getting home or staying alive or feeling warped as a human being-just him wiggling around in my hands, wiping all the grime off my face.” Which means Kopelman was happy that he had something to take care of, something to distract him from all the bad things that may happen. Such as the Colonel dieing or going insane from the violence and despair of the war.

Therefore, that is Colonel Jay Kopelman kept this puppy, even though it was against Marine regulation. He kept this puppy because he wanted to protect it’s innocence and believed that the puppy would protect his sanity.