Our training started.I was stationed, with half of our class at Fort Buckner. Every morning we had to get on a 21/2 ton truck (duce and a half), and drive across the island to where the dogs were kenneled at Marshanardo.

When we got there we were told that we would have 3 days to get in on the dog we could choose. That works like this. We were lead to the kennels and were told we could look the dogs over, (all dogs had his name on his kennel and if no handlers name was on the sign he was unassigned). If you saw a dog you liked you tried to make friends with him. That wasn't all that easy. Most of the dogs were recently returned from Viet Nam and they were already trained in agression attack. When you just stopped in front of there cage, they wanted to rip you apart.

The trick is that since their old handler left them they hadn't been with anyone, and hadn't been out. So, they really wanted a new handler but, they were trained to attack every body except him. That's where the trick came in to get them to except you as their new handler. I set with this one big brute for a couple of hours, he'd calm down a bit and I'd talk to him. But anytime someone would walk down the kennel walkway he'd go ballistic and chew on the wire of his cage to get at me. A few times he'd rub his back to the wire so I could stick a couple of fingers through to scratch him. All the time I 'd have to watch his fur to see if it would bristle, and he was watching me. I start to pet his back when he would whirl around and try to take my hand off. This went on for awhile when I finally gave up on him.

I walked around looking at more of the dogs when I saw Duke. He had a lot of Collie in him, not full German Shepard. I noticed that he was barking and growling like all the dogs but, he just didn't seem to mean it as much as the others. You see, as a very young boy, my dog was a mixture of Collie and Shepard and guess what, his name was DUKE. I felt like this was fate working here! I started talking with him and he calmed down a bit. I was even scratching him in a little while.

The next step was the most dangerous one to take. When you felt that he trusted you enough, you had to open the door and step inside. You had to lock the door behind you when you went inside, so if he attacked you he couldn't get out to attack anyone else. Of course the dog will back up and look at you doing this. That is the moment your heart will skip a few beats. You just got to keep talking to him all the time leting him know your his new best friend. He'll slowly walk over to you as to say "Boy, you must be my new handler and your going to take me out of this cage. "Duke smelled my hand ( never fingers out make a fist just in case he decides to bite).

I started to pet him and we became friends. I then put the choke chain on him and the muzzel and we went out for our first walk. Our training was alot of obedience training, marching, learning how to read our dogs alert signs. In the Army, when you screw up there's pushups!! When your partner screws up, you still get the pushups while he sets next to you laughing. We were a team. All the time the instructors were constantly watching both of us to see how we worked as a team. They also were firing weapons off and throwing attillery simulators around to get both of us use to the sounds.

Agitation training was to get the dogs pretty PO'ed at everybody but you. (you never agitate your dog, just everybody elses) There has been a misconception, that the dogs were trained just to attack the Vietnamese. WRONG!! They were trained to attack any target that was out there-Man-Woman or child to them it didn't matter.

Basically our Sentry Dogs were a bullet, and we the handlers, were the trigger/saftey. In 1968-69 Senrty Dogs were full attack dogs, once off leash, they would attack the nearest target. That is why a Senrty Dog Team had to work alone.

Another training was the Agitation Circle. One of us had to put on the 80lbs.attack suit and stand in the middle of the circle. Dog teams formed the circle, with the instructors walking around the teams to our rear and yell which dog would go in and attack the guy in the suit. Those dogs got real excited in this training. I had to be in the suit one day and I'll tell you, it's scarey seeing a attack dog run at you at full speed. You had to brace yourself for the hit and present your padded arm for them to bite. You can't loose your balance and fall down because the suit dosen't have any protection for your head. The power those dogs have on impact is unbelievable, and once they bite on to your arm they hang on.(Mission of the Sentry Dog is---Persue--Attack--Hold) When you are attacking with your dog, and he has bittened the padded arm, the command to release is OUT.

Well, most of the dogs including Duke, didn't listen to this command at all. So, you had what is known as the choke out. You had to get his leather collar by your left hand at the back of his head and sliding your right hand down under his throat (never take your right hand in a round house move infront of his eyes or he could let go and thinking your hand is another enemy hand and get you) and choke his windpipe until he releases then get him away from the target and praise him for the great job he did.

Our training was nearing it's end, when the vet's found out that Duke had come down with IHS.I saw him the last few days, and he didn't appear to be to sick to me. But, they had to put him in the vet hospital. I felt real sad that we had down all the training together and now I had to go to Viet Nam without my partner I train with all those weeks. I lost a friend in Duke but I was to meet my new friend to be waiting for me in the kennels of the 212th MP CO in Long Binh Viet Nam----------