Col. John Folsom runs an organization called Wounded Warriors Family Support. I have the honor of serving on its board. I had known that Col. Folsom was a decorated Marine, but I didn’t know that he was a sentimental animal lover. His wife has written Smoke the Donkey: A Marine’s Unlikely Friend, an account of Col. Folsom’s encounter with a stray donkey (later nicknamed “Smoke”) when he was in command of Camp Al Taqaddum near Fallujah in Iraq in 2008. The donkey became more than Folsom’s friend. He became a camp mascot, a way for Marines to bond with their kids back home through shared pictures and stories, and a bridge to the local Iraqi population. He was a “morale booster on four legs.” It’s a touching and often amusing story (I didn’t know that donkeys can be affectionate and smart) that also offers some interesting glimpses into what life was like for American servicemen and women in Iraq.