Another Place Another Time - Episode 5

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Five

Three minutes later we were blasting out of the Company parking lot in Captain Kennedy’s Jeep. We drove for a while before he began talking. When he finally spoke, his voice was clear above the sound of the wind around the open Jeep, but not loud. “Leonard, you’re eighteen years old, and I’m twenty-three. The difference between us is four years of college and one year in Vietnam. I looked at your 201 File after you signed in, and I got the idea that just maybe you’d listen to some advice. Since you don’t know yet what it is, I’m not going to ask you if you will follow it or not. On the other hand, since you’re a Private and I’m your Company Commander, you will at least listen to me.” He laughed, and I did too.

“Leonard, I have a B.A. in Education. All I’ve ever wanted to do is teach. I grew up on a farm, the youngest of four kids. There is less than a year’s age difference between each of the four of us. That meant, when I graduated from high school, my two brothers and my sister were in college. Even though they were each working one or two jobs, and they had a couple of partial scholarships among them, it wasn’t enough to pay all of their costs. All the extra money the farm made went to them. There was no money left for me, and, yet, I wanted to go to college in the worst way. The Army offers full, four-year scholarships to those who qualify scholastically and are willing to make a six-year commitment to the service. That commitment, by the way, begins after graduation from college. Five years ago no one had heard of Vietnam, so the Army seemed like a perfect way for me to go to college.”

I nodded in agreement, and we rode in silence for a while before he continued. Finally, he said, “I heard the word ‘Vietnam’ for the first time in my junior year. When I graduated, I knew I was going to go there. I chose the Transportation Branch with the idea that I would be safe, or at least safer, as a Transportation Officer. I guess I was safer than I would have been in the Infantry, but the truth is, there are no safe tours in Vietnam.”

I nodded and he continued, “My Company was part of the 25th Infantry Division, based in Chu Chi, about twenty miles from Saigon. While I was there, I came to know the Company Commander of the Scout Dog Detachment. That’s why we are talking now. I’m taking you to the U.S. Army Scout Dog Training Center. You’ll meet some of the personnel, but my intent is for you to meet some of the dogs. Then I’m going to tell you about Scout Dogs and the Army, and I’m going to give you some advice. What you do with it is up to you.”

He paused, glanced at me, and continued, “You see, Leonard, you have some choices in front of you, and, you can trust me on this, not going to Vietnam isn’t one of them. You are going to Vietnam. Your choices are about how you go. Do you understand what I’ve said so far?”

“Yes, Sir, I do, but why dogs?”

Captain Kennedy smiled and asked, “Do you like dogs, Leonard?”

“Yes, Sir, I love dogs. In fact, if I had to pick between a dog and most people I know, I’d take the dog every time.”

“Well, Leonard, that ought to make it obvious why I’m talking to you about dogs.”

“I understand, Sir. But, how did you know that I liked dogs?”

Captain Kennedy didn’t say anything for a moment. He considered his words carefully, and then he said, “There’s nothing in your records that says you like dogs. However, as I looked through your file, I realized that it could almost have been my file.” He paused, glanced at me, and then added, “Except for the sixteen weeks of Basic Training.” We both laughed.

Then he said, “Leonard, I love dogs, and I just knew that you did too. I can’t tell you how I knew you liked dogs, any more than you can tell me how you know everything that you know. In fact, I think that we probably agree on many things, and I think we are alike in more ways than we’re not alike, but talking about them isn’t what this afternoon is all about.”

As he turned off the main road onto a narrow two-lane strip of asphalt, he said, “For the next couple of hours, I want you to pretend that I’m your older brother. You’ll have to work at that since you’re an only child, but you can do it.”

We laughed again, and then he continued. “Leonard, I know you’re not bucking the Army, at least, not in the usual ways that people buck it. And, somewhere at the heartless core of itself, the Army knows that too, or else it would have spit you out by now. Instead, it has allowed you to disrupt the normal flow of events, something it almost never allows to happen. The Amy has tolerated you for a reason, and that reason is you have something it values above all else…you are a natural leader.”

He paused to let his words sink in. After a few seconds he continued, “I know something about you though, something the Army doesn’t know. You’re never going to lead men, at least not directly, the way the Army would like for you to. You might be an officer, but I doubt it. More than likely you will be an NCO, a Sergeant or a Corporal, and even then, you’ll not have a squad or a platoon for which you are accountable. I know that most of this doesn’t make sense to you right now. Just trust me, and listen to everything I have to say. In time, you’ll understand.”

I knew that I was hearing straight talk, straighter than any I had ever heard. That’s why I listened to everything Captain Kennedy told me that afternoon, and, in time, I understood it all and a whole lot more.