OUT RANKED
The old sergeant was taking a rare moment and relaxing, lying in the sun just watching the clouds. Violence was way down in this area and he knew soon the whole company would be moving to Afghanistan. But that was in the future and all he wanted to do now was take a nap and not think.
He had no more than closed his eyes when the whole goon squad walked up.
“Do you ladies have some sort of weird radar that leads you to bother me at just the WRONG time?”
“WHAT do you want?”
“Uh, well Pappy. We been watching Dog patrol the FOB and we got to talking. Seems like we really don’t know anything about Military Working Dogs.”
The old sergeant sat up and looked over at Dog working the fence line.
“Sigh. Sit down.”
“I guess they don’t teach ya all anything in basic anymore. Ok. MWDs have been around since ancient times but were not used by the United States in any great number until WWII.”
“Wow, ancient history pappy.” One of the squad said.
*“Shut your pie hole. A little known chapter in Quartermaster History is the War Dog program. During World War II, not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American KennelClub and a new group calling itself "Dogs for Defense" mobilized dog owners across the country to donate quality animals to the Quartermaster Corps. Dogs donated by the public to the Army saved the lives of a number of soldiers in combat.”
“Probably the most famous War Dog was Chips. Chips was donated by Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, New York, was trained at Front Royal, Virginia in 1942, and was among the first dogs to be shipped overseas. He was assigned to the 3d Infantry Division and served with that unit in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. His assignments included sentry duty at the Roosevelt-Churchill conference in Casablanca in January 1943.”
“Even though trained as a sentry, Chips was reported on one occasion by members of Company I, 30th Infantry Regiment, to have broken away from his handler and attacked a pillbox containing an enemy machine gun crew in Sicily. He seized one man and forced the entire crew to surrender. He was also credited by the units to which he was assigned as having been directly responsible for capture of numerous enemy by alerting to their presence. In recognition of his service Chips was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, both were later revoked.”
“In 1993 Disney produced a TV move about Chips called "Chips the War Dog".
“Now days dogs have their serial numbers tattooed in their ears AND they are given rank one step above their handlers to curb any abuse of the animal that may take place. By having a higher rank any abuse subjects the handler to the UCMJ.
“And not only that but they can receive awards and medals now. Dog has a few including the Army Achievement Medal.”
“You mean Dog actually outranks you Pappy?”
“No numb nuts. I’m not a dog handler and as you all remember Dog came to us in rather ------ unusual circumstances. However he DOES hold the rank of sergeant, which means he DOES out rank YOU. Truth be told he probably has more medals than you and we ALL know he is smarter than you.”
“Now, what else do you all want to know?”
One of the goon squad way in the back said with a smile, “Pappy why is the sky blue.”
“Why is your eye gonna be black? NOW GO AWAY!”
Pappy lay back down. He smiled as he caught Dog out of the corner of his eye.
He looked like he was laughing.
*Thanks to the military working dog foundation
© 2008
Steven J. Newton
stevenewton69@hotmail.com