Page 739 - Total War on PTSD

reaction to me was to just let me touch him...pet him...which I did all of the time anyway. It was different...it was like Sam was saying that's what he was there for, to take care of me.
I do still have a piece of shrapnel in me, but it was never life threatening. I can still look at it and it's still there. I never even thought about having it taken out. Our dogs were treated as quickly as we were, and maybe even quicker, because they were worth more than we were at that time. There would always be Veterinarians available for the dogs immediately, if they were needed. Today they are actually allowing the dogs to come home with their handlers. They certainly didn't do that in Vietnam. They just left the dogs there like a piece of expendable equipment.
My training and subsequent assignments were as Canine Handler, working with security/scout/ bomb sniffing Military Working Dogs (MWD) and providing perimeter patrol and security watch related duties as well as countless others, in order to protect my fellow service members. From July 1964-1965 I was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base (AFB). After that followed two more one-year stints at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho; and Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. My next assignment brought me to service from March 1965-1966 in Bien Hoa (Vietnam). His follow-on assignment brought him to Piease AFB, Portsmouth, NH where I was assigned as Kennel Master.
The entire time I was in Bien Hoa, and when I was stationed in New Hampshire, I was privileged enough to have my MWD Sam by my side. There is no job quite as gratifying as one where you get to work as a team with a MWD. I knew that my job was meant to help keep other people, and especially other service members, alive; and that was truly something to be proud of...and I will always feel that way.
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