Phan Rang Air Base, Vietnam, February 1968 and a Dog Named Duke

I arrived at Phan Rang Air Base in February of 1968.  I spent a week working in the kennels and getting to know the area and the dogs.  I did not get to choose which dog I wanted.  I was assigned a dog named Duke. I made friends with Duke and worked with him in the training area.

Duke was 7 or 8 years old and tired.  He was an Army dog before he was reassigned to the Air Force. I guess the "real soldiers" figured that the "panty waist" Air Force dog handlers could use a worn out wounded attack dog.  I was the lucky guy who drew the short straw and he became my partner.  So, I did the best I could with what I had.

It did not take me long to figure out that in the States this dog would belong to a guy carrying a sign displaying "Make Love Not War." I spent most of my time hiding in the bushes and chewing my fingernails. Duke spent most of his time sleeping and alerting on my C-rations. My routine at night was to spread out my poncho as a picnic blanket and sit on it to eat my supper.  One night, I unpacked my C-rations and put a packet of cellophane-wrapped chicklets onto my poncho so that I could have them after dinner. After I had finished my meal, I reached for my chicklets and found only a wet spot where my gum should have been. Duke ate my gum, wrapper and all.

Meal time is the only time Duke was alert. He would watch me eat and look at me as if to say, "Do you have anything you can share?"  One of the C-ration packages had crackers that were more like cardboard than food, so I figured Duke might like them more than me.  I picked up a cracker, put it in the palm of my hand, and extended my hand to Duke.  I expected him to daintily take the cracker out of my hand like Dawn, my attack dog from Ohio, used to do when I gave her a treat.  I was wrong.  Duke put his lower jaw below my hand and his upper jaw above my hand and chomped.  His teeth raked the cracker out of the palm of my hand as I quickly drew my hand out of his mouth.  After that, I put his crackers on my poncho and I let him steal them while my back was turned. This practice worked well for both of us.