Another Place Another Time - Episode Six

Another Place Another Time

The serialization of the novel.

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Six

We rode in silence for a few minutes, then the Captain said, “Leonard, let me get this all said before you ask any questions. When I’m done, you can ask anything that you want. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Sir, that’s perfectly clear.”

“Leonard, I suspect that you’ve had more “heart-to-heart” talks than you can remember. I also suspect that you don’t pay much attention to them. If you don’t listen to what I’m going to tell you this afternoon or if you don’t pay attention to how you feel when you see what I’m about to show you, then you just might be making a mistake that could well be the end of you. Do you understand?”

Captain Kennedy took his eyes off the road and glanced toward me. I nodded.

Satisfied that I was listening, really listening, he continued, “I went to Vietnam without a clue. Within hours of arriving, I realized that America shouldn’t be there. The domino theory and the so-called threat to American freedom is a sham, perpetrated for political and economic reasons. Leonard, the men and women who are serving in Vietnam believe they are doing it to protect democracy, when in fact they are only keeping a handful of politicians in power and fueling the Gross National Product. On the other hand, the Vietnamese are fighting to reunite their country. Vietnam isn’t two countries in the minds of the Vietnamese. It’s two countries, because France couldn’t control the northern half, and most of what they wanted to take from Vietnam is in the south. Therefore, they drew an arbitrary line across the country and called it two countries. The Vietnamese have defeated China many times, as well as Genghis and Kublai Khan, Japan, and France; and, they are going to defeat us. Now, here is the point of the history lesson, there is nothing you, Leonard Jacobson, can do about the war, but there is something you can do about your part in it. That’s what you have to address and nothing else.”

I nodded silently as the Captain slowed the Jeep and then turned right onto a narrow road that seemed to end in a grove of pine trees. “Leonard, if you don’t do something right now, you are going to Vietnam as an infantryman. Trust me; you don’t want to do that for reasons you don’t want to discover in Vietnam.”

Captain Kennedy pulled off onto the shoulder, though it appeared there had been no traffic on the road for a long time. He said, “I’m stopping because I want to finish this before we get to the unit.”

I nodded, and he continued, “Because you spent so much time in Basic Training and now you’re assigned to an Advanced Infantry Training Company, the only jobs choices you have left are infantry, or infantry related. However, there is one that, even though it is an infantry job, is different from all other infantry jobs. Frankly, it’s the one that I wish I’d known about before I signed up for the Transportation Branch; and it’s the one that I’m convinced you’re going to want to do. That job is Scout Dog Handler.”

He started the Jeep and pulled back on to the road. Neither of us spoke. We rounded an easy curve, and I saw a group of buildings nestled in the pines. One of the buildings was a two-story, World War II barracks building, just like the one I had lived in at Basic Training, and identical with the one I’d moved into earlier in the afternoon. Beside the barracks was a single story building that was a combination orderly room, supply room, dispensary, and mess hall. Behind those two buildings was a long low one, surrounded by a chain-link fence. “What’s the building behind the barracks?” I asked.

Captain Kennedy grinned, “That’s the kennel. It’s where the dogs live. They are the reason we are here. I’m going to show you the place, and then I’ll tell you about it on the way back to our company area.”

A young Second Lieutenant greeted Captain Kennedy when we walked into the orderly room. “Is this the man you called about, Sir?” he asked.

“That’s right.” Captain Kennedy pointed through the window toward the kennels, “It looks like everyone is out on an exercise.”

“Yes, Sir, they won’t be back until after dark. However, we do have seven new dogs in the kennel and a couple of ‘trainees’ that have minor injuries that have them sidelined for a few days. You’re welcome to visit them. Everything is open. Take your time.”

We walked the pine-needle-covered path from the Orderly Room to the kennel in silence. I should say we walked most of the way in silence. We were fifty feet from the kennel when Captain Kennedy said, “Slow down, Leonard. They’ll wait on you.”

I had almost been running without even realizing it. We both laughed, and I managed to slow to a walk. The nine dogs in the kennel were German Shepherds, one of them was solid black, and the other eight were the more common tan and black. I fell hopelessly in love the minute I saw them. They were all great, but I have to admit the black one was my favorite.

“Where do they come from?” I asked.

The Captain laughed, “That was my first question, too. Individual owners, veterinarians, shelters, and pounds all over the country donate them. Those selected for the training are the cream of the crop, so are their handlers. They are also mavericks.”

“The dogs or the handlers, Captain?”

Captain Kennedy laughed, “Both.”

I was playing with the black one when I asked, “What makes them mavericks, Sir?”

The Captain said, “Look in that dog’s eyes, Leonard.”

I held the dog’s head in my hands and looked into his eyes. He returned my stare without turning away or showing any discomfort at all. I felt like he was looking into my soul. After what seemed to be minutes, but was probably only thirty seconds, I broke eye contact and began playing with him again. As I petted him, I asked Captain Kennedy, “What does that mean?”

“I don’t think anyone knows for sure Leonard, but it is one of the key tests for finding out if a dog qualifies for the training. That sounds like voodoo, but it has proven to be reliable. I think it shows high intelligence, but more than that, I think it is also a mark of loyalty, trust, and dedication. All of those traits are essential for scout dogs and for their handlers. That’s what I meant when I said both the dogs and the handlers are mavericks.”

We played with the dogs for more than an hour, though it seemed like only a few minutes. On the way back I was so excited I couldn’t stop babbling, something unheard-of for me. “Sir, being a scout dog handler is the most exciting job I’ve seen in the Army. Heck, it’s the most exciting job I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what a handler does, but I know I want to be one.”

Captain Kennedy held up his hand stopping my word barrage mid-sentence. “I know how you feel. That’s just the way I felt when I met the scout dogs and their handlers in Vietnam. When I looked at your personnel file, I knew you’d feel the same.”

He paused until he was sure that he had my full attention, then he continued, “I have meetings scheduled for the rest of the day, and tomorrow will be the first day of your advanced infantry training. We will not have a chance to talk again for a while. That’s why it’s important that you listen carefully to what I’m going to tell you, that is, if you want to go to Vietnam as a Scout Dog Handler, rather than an infantryman.”

I’ve never listened more carefully to anyone than I listened to Captain Kennedy for the next twenty minutes. “Sentry dogs and their handlers patrol all major compounds in Vietnam,” he explained. He said that if I applied for sentry dog handler training, I’d wind up on a list that was so long I wouldn’t have a chance of reaching the top.

I asked him why that list was so long, and he explained that sentry dog handler trainees needed no pre-training or qualifying. Individuals selected went to sentry dog handler school directly from basic training. Then he looked at me and said, “Leonard, there is nothing wrong with doing it that way, however, because it’s easy, that list is long.”

He said the other two jobs that Army dogs and handlers did were scout and tracker work for infantry units. He noted there were far more scout dogs and handlers than tracker teams.

“That’s why I recommend that you apply for Scout Dog Handler Training. Now, here’s the important point for you to know. Almost all the scout dog handlers that come here directly from Basic Training, enlisted for the job, which means they have a three-year service commitment, rather than the two-year commitment of a draftee like you. You cannot change the fact that you are a draftee, but you can qualify for the Scout Dog Training by qualifying as a LURP (Long Range Recon Patrol), because the scout dogs and handlers work mainly with LURPS. That means you have two schools to go to before you go to the Scout Dog Training School. First, you’ll go to Airborne Training and then you’ll go to Ranger Training. Neither of those schools is easy, but, if you make it through them, your application for Scout Dog Training will be approved.”

We drove for a half minute or so and he added, “Leonard, right now we have over a half million troops in Vietnam. Less than two hundred of them are Scout Dog Handlers. That’s an exclusive group. Everyone in it earned the right to be there, and they will all tell you that it is more than worth the effort. If you don’t wash out in Airborne or Ranger training, in less than six months you’ll come back here, to the kennel, where you’ll meet your partner…”

“Partner?”

“Your dog will be your partner. You’ll train together, and you’ll go to Vietnam together. What do you think?”

“I want to do it, Sir. Whatever it takes, I want to do it.”

“Are you sure about that, Leonard?”

“Yes, Sir, without a doubt.”

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