Many a night I thought I would turn that old truck over as Pistol and I sped to the post of the dog team that had called in for help. It seems we never could really depend on the Tiger Flight SAT team to arrive in a reasonable amount of time. And, a lot of times they never showed up at all. I don't know if they did not know where our posts were or what. Or, if maybe it was just because we were K-9. Sometimes I think it was the latter of the two, for reasons I will not elaborate on, here.

The one thing I did know was, that a dog team did not have the luxury of time if something was happening out on his post. And, I was going to do my level best to get there as quickly as possible. I took pride in my knowledge of the base, perimeter, all the K-9 posts, and the quickest route to any post from wherever I happened to be at the time. In fact, one of our shift supervisors once told me that my shift supervisor had told him that, "Sgt. Monger and I may hate each other but one thing I will have to say for him. If any of our handlers have trouble out there, Sgt. Monger will get there and will be there before me or anyone else. Because, he knows this base like the back of his hand." I was really quite shocked to hear that my supervisor had said that. I never really thought he would have anything good to say about me. I guess we can all get fooled, for the better, sometimes.

The night was crystal clear, the moon was full and on the rise. And, meteorites streaked across the sky continually. A multitude of stars were twinkling for all to behold but here I was without a telescope. It was indeed a beautiful night. I do not even recall it being all that hot. Suddenly, my thoughts of this beautiful night are shattered by the squawk of the radio. I hear the words, " K-SAT from K-9 post so and so"(post number long forgotten). I quickly grab the microphone and respond. He answers, "K-SAT, I have an intruder and need help." He said a lot more that I can no longer recall but I could hear the anxiousness and fear in his voice. I down shifted out of high to the next lowest gear and punched the accelerator to floor to gain all the speed I could before shifting back to high. It seemed like it was taking an eternity to get there. Finally, I have arrived. I hit the brakes and slide to a stop. I grabbed my M-16 and jumped out of the truck. I untie Pistol and get him out of the back of the truck. Now, I start talking to and questioning the handler about the intruder, "Which direction did he go?" "Are you sure there was just one?" "Did you pursue him?" He is very nervous and he finally responds to me saying, "Don't you see him?" "He's right over there, about 75 yards away, don't you see his flashlight?" Well, I restrained myself from bursting out laughing. And, I calmly explained to him that "Charlie" would never use a flashlight to give his position away, if he was this close to us. However, the handler was convinced that the enemy was there and was using a flashlight.

Well, I have been wrong about many things in my life and it could be that I was wrong this time, as well. And, I certainly was not going to leave this handler alone until I found out for certain what was going on. I put Pistol on guard saying, "Watch him, boy." We proceeded cautiously towards the light in the jungle. We were getting closer and closer. My eyes stayed riveted on the light. I never noticed any movement whatsoever. The wind was in our favor and Pistol had never shown any indication of anyone being there. We were now within 20 yards, still no movement, and no alert from Pistol. Finally, there he was, in a small clearing in the jungle!! Lying on his side, with his bottom exposed, reflecting the full moon, was Dr. Pepper. An evil and devious "can" he was, to have stricken fear into heart of this handler. For a moment, I seriously thought about shooting that "can" but there would have been too much explaining to do.

I could go on to tell of the times this same handler (I won't mention his name, because I would never want to embarrass him) thought he was being overrun one night and when I went to check it out it ended up being a bunch of rats out in the jungle. Or, of the time he called in about there being between 15 and 30 of the enemy coming through the jungle towards his post (with flashlights on), which ended up being lights from a port nearby.