Another Place - Episode 16

Another Place Another Time

Book One

Jake and Whispers

Episode Sixteen

About a month later, just after breakfast, I said good-bye to Lands. We shook hands and then hugged. I walked outside with him and watched as he threw his duffel bag into the back of the unit’s ¾-ton utility vehicle, then he got in the front seat with Riley and in a minute, he was gone. I was pretty choked up when I turned back toward the barracks.

Just before noon, Riley found me, sitting in a corner of the empty mess hall reading a book.

He bounced in, in his usual upbeat fashion and said, “Hi, Sarge.”

I looked up and smiled because, whether you liked it or not, his smile was infectious. “Grab a cup of coffee, Riley, and have a seat. Did you get Lands to the 90th?”

Before answering, Riley looked around the mess hall, poured himself a cup of coffee, and then walked over to my table. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and leaned across the table toward me. Only then did he say, “Yep, he’s there. He said you knew the plan, so I thought I’d ask you if you’d like to go with me to pick him up.”

“I’d love to. When are you leaving?”

“We’ll leave here at 1500 hours and pick him up at 1530.”

I was at the kennel fifteen minutes early. Five minutes later Riley appeared. In two minutes, we had Ringo and Whispers leashed in the back of the ¾-ton. At 1510, we waved at the MP at the main gate and headed toward Long Binh. Twenty minutes later, we turned left onto Highway One, the road to Saigon. We had only gone a quarter of a mile when Riley pulled over in front of a simple Buddhist temple.

Lands emerged immediately, his duffel bag over his shoulder. He threw the bag in the back and crawled in after it, quickly settling between the two dogs. Seconds later, he shouted, “We’re set back here.” Riley dumped the clutch and in a huge cloud of dust and gravel, we shot back onto the highway.

Thirty minutes later, we were in Saigon. We dropped Lands and Ringo in front of a modest two-story house on the street opposite a section of the port used only by private freighters. There was one small ship flying the Thai Flag tied to the wharf directly across the street from the house. Riley shouted through the open rear window of the canvas roof, “Lands, it’s risky for us to sit here. Do you remember where to go and what to do?”

“Yes, indeed, Corporal Riley,” Lands said in mock seriousness. “I’ve thought about little else for the past month.”

I shook Lands’s hand through the open rear window. “Write as soon as you get home.”

Lands grinned, “You can count on it, Jake.”

He untied Ringo’s leash, grabbed his duffel bag, and he and the dog jumped out onto the street. They ran a few steps toward the house, stopped, turned back and looked at us. Lands saluted. I returned it. Ringo barked and Lands shouted, “Good luck, Jake, and you, too, Whispers,” as Riley pulled away from the curb and blended smoothly into the passing traffic.

Six weeks later, I was in the barracks when I heard Riley coming down the hallway. I called out, “Come in, Riley,” just as he knocked on my door.

He popped into my now private room and held out an envelope. “I think this is the one we’ve been waiting on.”

I took it and immediately saw that the return address simply said “HOME,” and the postmark read, “Davenport, Iowa.”

That afternoon I told Whispers that Ringo and Lands had made it home okay.

He barked softly and wagged his tail.

********

Whispers and I settled into a routine for the next six months. We averaged one three-day, or four-day patrol every ten days or so. It became increasingly clear to me, and I’m sure to everyone else in the IPDS and the LURP unit, that Whispers was an exceptional Scout Dog. What else could we believe? After almost seven months, he had spotted every single ambush and trap he’d faced.

The number of commendations in our file rapidly grew to the point I lost count of them. Besides the commendations, we’d received two Bronze Stars for valor. Frankly, I could have cared less about those. My only concern was doing the job I had set out to do which was keeping myself and Whispers safe until it was time for us to leave Vietnam. If that kept other people safe also, that was a bonus.

One afternoon Riley found me in the mess hall, the second place he looked after checking the kennel. He told me the Old Man and the First Sergeant wanted to talk to me. I asked him what was going on.

“You’ll see,” he said over his shoulder as he led the way.

When we walked into the orderly room, I saw Captain Petty standing beside the First Sergeant’s desk. They were pretending to talk about something, but it was obvious they were waiting on me. Riley had two folding chairs set up for the Captain and me. We sat down in front of the First Sergeant’s desk.

For a moment, no one said anything. Finally Captain Petty spoke.

“Jake, we wanted you to know the three of us have just signed up for another tour in Vietnam.” As he said this, he made a gesture that took in Riley and the First Sergeant.

“We came over with the 9th, and we were all three scheduled to rotate out in two weeks, but we’ve talked about it and decided to stay another year. We are about the only real family we have. Well, it’s more than that, way more than any of us could ever explain… Anyway, we wanted you to know because….well, I’ll let the First Sergeant tell you.”

They had been together for two years before the unit came to Vietnam, and then for almost a year in Vietnam. I understood there was more to their extending for another tour than just their three-year history together.

In fact, I had been thinking about what I would do after Vietnam.  The more I considered the possibilities, the more attractive another tour looked to me.  I just couldn’t see myself bagging groceries in the family store with Whispers at my side.  My desire to be a Scout Dog handler had given me the incentive to excel for the first time in my life.  When Whispers became my partner, my life suddenly had meaning.  Getting Whispers meant I got Vietnam, but it was worth it.  Sergeant Jacobson, Scout Dog Handler, Whispers, and Vietnam all went together.  When I was honest with myself, I knew I wasn’t ready to turn Vietnam loose, at least not just yet.

The First Sergeant began, “Jake, we’re telling you because we know that you plan to take Whispers out of here when you go, and we wanted you to know that we support that. You can count on us to help you every way that we can.” He looked at Riley and then said, “As smart as Riley is, he doesn’t engineer what we’ve come to call the ‘great getaways’ all by himself. Captain Petty and I handle some of the events that are part of the show, and we’ll do it for you and Whispers when you’re ready to go.”

I had known from the time Lands and Ringo left that Riley, alone, couldn’t put together everything needed for a successful getaway. Now I had the whole picture.

“That’s funny,” I said. “Riley told me he did it all by himself. He said he had a direct line to General Westmoreland’s office and…”

Riley stopped me by throwing a cup of water in my direction. We laughed and went to the mess hall for a cup of coffee.

********

Two weeks later, I was cleaning Whisper’s run when Captain Petty, First Sergeant Conley, and a Ranger Captain that I had never seen before approached me. The First Sergeant said, “Jake, we need to talk to you.” I opened the gate, and went outside, with Whispers on my heels. Captain Petty said, “Jake, this is Captain Webster, he’s the group Chaplain.”

I looked at the cross on the Captain’s fatigue jacket, and I had an idea why they were there. Whispers whined softly. We sat at the makeshift table nailed together from empty wire spools discarded by the communications guys. The Chaplain came right to the point. “Jake, your parents died last week in an automobile accident near Valdosta. The Red Cross screwed up, and failed to get in touch with you when it happened. In fact, it happened over a week ago. I called the Chief of Police in Valdosta just before I came over here. Your parents were buried two days ago, Jake.” He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, son.”

I managed to say, “Thanks.”

The Chaplain said, “Is there anything I can do?”

I shook my head.

The First Sergeant said, “Jake, we’ll be in the orderly room. Come on up when you’re ready.” The three men walked slowly and silently away from the kennel.”

Whispers and I sat there for a longtime, and then we went to the orderly room. The Chaplain had already left. Captain Petty, The First Sergeant and Riley were waiting on me. The First Sergeant said, “Let’s go over to the mess hall, I think they just put on a fresh pot of coffee.”

In the mess hall, Captain Petty told me that I could go home on leave if I wanted to. I thanked him and told him there was no one there that I wanted to see. Besides, I didn’t want to leave Whispers.

“I understand,” he murmured. “I’m really sorry, Jake.”

Late that afternoon, Whispers and I began walking. We walked from one end of Bearcat to the other, back and forth, back and forth. We walked all-night. Whispers had never met my mother and daddy, so I told him all about them. I told him how wonderful they were, and how they loved me as much as I loved him. He understood that. I cried until the tears were all gone. Then, we walked back to the mess hall, and I scrounged some bacon for Whispers before we went to bed, me in my bunk and Whispers in Land’s old bunk. No one bothered us all-day. When we left the room, I saw that Riley had pinned a sign on my door. It read, “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT KNOCKING.” I looked at it and felt a tear run down my cheek.

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