Post by Tony Cooper on Mar 25, 2005 20:02:04 GMT -5
For me, there are some memories of Vietnam that still bring both joy and sadness, even to this day. Sometime in Dau Tieng, 1967, a beagle/terrier mix adopted our commo platoon. Someone named her Speed. Back in the "insane days" of falling out in the mornings, there were more dogs in formation than soldiers. Formations soon ceased due to morning mortars and the bizarre scene of the CO talking to a platoon of canines, who only stood at attention long enough to await the trip to the messhall.
Speed accompanied us on guard duty. She would either sit on top the bunkers or cozy up inside on those rainy nights. Having Speed on the bunker line was an extra comfort. She would see things in the dark that we evidently missed. Anyway, one night, Speed brought a chicken back to us early in the evening. I guess her intentions were to eat it raw (the little chicken thief). A couple of us city boys, figured out a way of cleaning, cooking and eating that bird. We even doctored up some bbq sauce. It was a well deserved feast. We gave Speed the unwanted parts. Well, we created a monster that night. I guess Speed never had 'cued chicken. About a week later, Speed came through our wire, with bird in mouth. There were some small arms fire, as she tried to negotiate the wire. We figured that some irate farmer, more likely VC got pissed off and tried to take Speed out. Of course, we laid down cover-fire, because, after all, the rounds were aimed in our direction. It didn't take much to discourage the attack on Speed. After things settled, it was late night chicken again.
One night, half dozing, I was awaiting Speed's return. It was about 2:00am and Speed had gone out hours earlier. Speed came crashing through the side slit of the bunker, into my lap. No warning, no chicken, but I sware she had a smile on her face, because she scared the crap out of me, and in turn I made enough noise to awaken my bunker mates who had all drawn weapons from their sleep. In all my tour, I truly believed I was dead twice, in a matter of seconds. It took us an hour before we all laughed.
Speed probably adopted another platoon after we all rotated, like all those other dogs. I cherish the memories of my first actual pet and it was so many thousands of miles away in a far away land. God Bless you Speed. I hope you died of old age and in someone's arms who cared about you.
Speed accompanied us on guard duty. She would either sit on top the bunkers or cozy up inside on those rainy nights. Having Speed on the bunker line was an extra comfort. She would see things in the dark that we evidently missed. Anyway, one night, Speed brought a chicken back to us early in the evening. I guess her intentions were to eat it raw (the little chicken thief). A couple of us city boys, figured out a way of cleaning, cooking and eating that bird. We even doctored up some bbq sauce. It was a well deserved feast. We gave Speed the unwanted parts. Well, we created a monster that night. I guess Speed never had 'cued chicken. About a week later, Speed came through our wire, with bird in mouth. There were some small arms fire, as she tried to negotiate the wire. We figured that some irate farmer, more likely VC got pissed off and tried to take Speed out. Of course, we laid down cover-fire, because, after all, the rounds were aimed in our direction. It didn't take much to discourage the attack on Speed. After things settled, it was late night chicken again.
One night, half dozing, I was awaiting Speed's return. It was about 2:00am and Speed had gone out hours earlier. Speed came crashing through the side slit of the bunker, into my lap. No warning, no chicken, but I sware she had a smile on her face, because she scared the crap out of me, and in turn I made enough noise to awaken my bunker mates who had all drawn weapons from their sleep. In all my tour, I truly believed I was dead twice, in a matter of seconds. It took us an hour before we all laughed.
Speed probably adopted another platoon after we all rotated, like all those other dogs. I cherish the memories of my first actual pet and it was so many thousands of miles away in a far away land. God Bless you Speed. I hope you died of old age and in someone's arms who cared about you.