Article updated: 2/18/2013 5:17 AM

Prospect grad saving dogs, in between tanker refueling flights

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U.S. Air Force Maj. Gina Stramaglio of the 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron and her crew, 1st Lt. Paul Paskell, co-pilot, right, and Senior Airman Mike Danilowski, boom operator. On Jan. 27 the team conducted the first U.S. refueling mission in support of French fighter planes battling al-Qaida in Mali.

Courtesy of Maj. Gina Stramaglio

Gallery Image

Gina Stramaglio holds a 3-day-old puppy, one of eight that airmen brought to the shelter with the mother Feb. 10. Stramaglio is trying to improve abysmal conditions at the shelter.

COURTESY OF U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. Ma

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gina Stramaglio and Airman 1st Class Timothy Wilson, 100th Security Forces Squadron, play with dogs at the animal shelter.

COURTESY of U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. Ma

This abandoned school in southwest Europe houses about 90 stray dogs.

Courtesy of Karen Stramaglio

Maj. Gina Stramaglio, 351st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, plays with a couple of dogs inside the shelter.

COURTESY of U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. Ma

Tech. Sgt. Hannah Hobart, 100th Security Forces Squadron, plays with a 3-day-old puppy at the shelter. Hearing that a German shepherd mix had given birth, military personnel went off site Feb. 10 and recovered the mom and eight healthy pups.

COURTESY of U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin M. Ma

About this Article

Gina Stramaglio, a Prospect High School grad, is flying refueling tankers for the Air Force in support of French forces fighting in Mali. But in her spare time, she's working to save dogs housed in a falling-down, abandoned school near her European base. The shelter sometimes runs out of food and “the local ladies have to carry five-gallon buckets of water a couple of hundred yards to water the dogs,” she said.