Fama, the ANBD (Episodes 30&31)

The big 3 0

1SG wanted to let me know that he was proud of me for doing well in school, and that it was about time that I got my ass in the fight with the rest of the guys. I had already prepared a tentative schedule for Fama and I, dividing our time between the 2 patrol teams, FOB security, and the other units on the FOB who worked primarily at at border crossing that was in our AO (Area of Operations, basically our turf). This worked out in my favor, as it didn’t give anyone a chance to get in there and micromanage us. I was still a little apprehensive about exactly what our capabilities were in the terrain we would be working in. The FOB was surrounded by mountains, and they stretched in every direction as far as they eye could see.

First Sergeant looked over my schedule, looked over my uniform, and looked over my shoulder as Smoke walked in the room. Smoke (the Artillery name for a Platoon Sergeant, who is directly under the 1SG) had been my boss since I joined the Army. He was my Section Chief when I was a Private, my Truck Commander during my Iraq deployment, my mentor, and my friend. He slapped me on the shoulder, hard. He’s a pretty big guy.

“It’s about time you got out here. How you been man?” he asked.

“Pretty good Smoke. That dog school is no joke, but we made it. We’re ready to go to work. I gave 1SG a schedule. I hope it’s OK that I put myself on some of your patrols.”

“Anytime man, you’re always welcome. We’re glad to have you. It hasn’t been the same without you here,” he smiled. We had a lot of fun in Iraq during our downtime, me and Smoke.

First Sergeant cleared his throat. He wasn’t too happy about us having a reunion in his office.

“Well, it seems you have a handle on things. As far as I’m concerned, you are in charge of you, and Adam too, if he ever gets here. Don’t make me regret this, because if you do, you’re not going to like the alternative plan of action. Are we clear Sergeant Winners?”

“Roger Top (nickname for 1SG) I got this under control.”

“You better. And another thing; you keep a handle on that dog,” said 1SG.

Smoke and I looked at each other, and excused ourselves from the office.

“So where’s your dog?” he asked. “I hear she tried to bite the pilot when you guys got here. Everybody is talking about him like he’s Cujo or something.”

“He’s a she, and yeah, she can be a bit of a bitch, but we’re working on it. she’s getting better every day,” I said.

Smoke got a big smile on his face. “This is going to be fun.”

“You know it Smoke, just like old times, right. You done with me? I gotta brief the Colonel and Sergeant Major, and finish unpacking.”

“Go ahead man. Take it easy, and let me know if you need anything. Anybody gives you any trouble you just send ’em my way,” he said. It was always a comfort to know that Smoke had my back.

“Thanks Smoke. See you later.”

I spent the rest of the afternoon talking to the Colonel and SGM, then the rest of the unit Commanders. I briefed them all on our capabilities and limitations, and let them know where I thought Fama and I could fit into current operations and FOB defense. I also invited them to come watch us train so they could see how we worked, how fast we could travel, and what we were capable of. Everyone agreed with my plan, probably because they didn’t want to take the time to make another one, and sent me on my way with a promise to come see us train. Mission accomplished. I was my own boss, I was guaranteed to get plenty of work without being stretched too thin, and I could work my way into operations as I got a better feel for how things were going.

I headed back to the house and picked up some training aids, my GPS unit and a shovel. There was a road running right behind the B-Hut that continued up the mountain, along several switch-backs, up to an OP (Observation Post) that was on top of the mountain. It looked like quite a hike, and that is exactly what I was after. I needed to see if we could effectively work on the side of a mountain, so up the road I went, flicking the GPS to life as I jogged up the hill. I stopped a full mile later, out of breath, sweating and cursing myself for not grabbing a bottle of water. I wasn’t to the top yet, but I figured this was close enough. I was going to have to make the trip up the hill twice after all. I buried a hide and started the return trip, burying 2 more hides along the way.

I opened Fama’s crate and she came out, giving a big stretch and hopping up on my shoulders for a big Fama hug. I grabbed her harness and she lit up like fireworks, barking and hopping around. She jumped up and raked her paw down my face, leaving 4 scratches on my right cheek. “Thanks Fama.” I get her calmed down and in her harness, picked up a pair of tennis balls and 2 bottles of water, looped her leash around my shoulders and headed out the door.

The B-Hut right across from ours was occupied by some civilian contractors that worked in the chow hall. They had congregated in front of their B-Hut, laughing and talking with one another, until Fama bolted out the door. When I talked to 5 guys that were standing there later, none of them would admit to screaming like a little girl, but one of them let out an impressive squawk. Fama stopped and looked over her shoulder, a smile playing across her face. “Look what I did Daddy.”

We headed up the hill to see what we were made of. The first part of the road ran behind the motorpool, which is the Army version of a parking lot. I had her search all the vehicles before we moved on. Further up the hill was a row of shipping containers running down both sides of the road. We searched all the containers and pressed on up the hill. Fama had never worked so long without finding a hide before, but she wasn’t bothered. She was responding to direction well and moving with great speed and purpose, seeming unaffected by the steep terrain. The first hide was located off the side of the road and down the hill in some loose rock. Fama threw a change of behavior and headed off the side of the road at a trot.

Something I had not considered when I planted the training aid was the loose stone, and when she turned around to locate the hide, she started sliding down the hill. Her focus was all on the hide, and she was trying desperately to get to it, but the harder she struggled the more she slid, her back feet slinging rocks down the hill behind her. I tried to call her up on the road in vain. I had been training her to ignore me when she was on odor for months now. She was not about to leave this aid for Daddy, so I had to head down to help. I went down the hill slowly, as to not slide like Fama was, and worked my way around behind her, eating gravel and dust the whole time. She was holding he place now, but she couldn’t get up the hill to the hide. She was just spinning her wheels. I reached up and put my hands behind her back feet for traction. Fama immediately jumped 5 feet up the hill and continued the effort. I worked my way up behind her again, repeating the process and she made it to the aid and laid down, her tail beating me in the face in excitement. I managed to get a ball out of my pocket and toss it up on the road. After swallowing another bucket of dust, I made it back up on the road with my dog. Note to self; always consider the terrain.

We finished the problem without a hitch. Fama had a blast, and had enough energy left at the top of the hill to play fetch all the way back to the house. I left her crate open and locked the B-Hut when I went to dinner and got a much needed shower. I came back and she was sprawled out on the bed. I get her dinner and brushed her out, doing my health checks. We laid on the bed together watching a movie until we fell asleep. It was so nice to not have to worry about anybody but us. No hyper dogs barking, no Privates poking their head in my room to ask a question they already knew the answer to, no trainer asking to see me to plan training for the next morning. Fama was relaxed and content with her head on my stomach. It was everything I had hoped for, and more. We had made it.

Episode 31

0400 came early on the morning of our first mission, but I wasn’t sleeping anyways. I got a shower, checked my gear, gave Fama her breakfast, checked my gear, got dressed, checked my gear, went to chow, checked my gear, and took Fama to our first patrol brief. It was held in the Battalion conference room, complete with a Power Point Presentation. I took Fama to the brief, as I was accustomed to leaving on the patrol directly after the brief. We showed up in full kit, ready to jump in the trucks and go. Nobody else had their gear on. I guess I was a little overeager.

The conference room was dominated by a huge wooden table in the middle, surrounded by 2 rows of chairs, one up against the table, and one against the wall, with an aisle in between the 2 rows of chairs. I sat in the outside row of chairs with Fama laying on the floor at my feet. Garrett, one of my soldiers when I was a Section Chief, sat in the chair directly across the aisle from me. We spent some time before the brief engaged in friendly conversation. He mentioned that he heard about Fama going after the pilot when we got to FOB Kahn, and I told him a little about her reactivity, and that we were a work in progress.

The LT (Lieutenant) went through his 30 minute brief on the upcoming mission and finished by asking me to brief the patrol team on how Fama and I work, and how we would be fitting into the mission. I gave a quick and dirty rundown on what I needed from the patrol team, and what we could offer them. Everyone was attentive and they asked a few questions when I was finished. The LT clapped his hands loudly and said, “Break,” signifying the end of the brief. Garrett stood up suddenly, along with everyone else in the room, stretching with his arms out to the side. His chair rolled backwards sharply and hit Fama in the legs. The combination of the hand clap, Garrett’s sudden movement, and the chair running into her set Fama off. She lunged up, nipped Garrett’s outstretched arm, and went right back to the down position before anybody knew what happened.

Garrett yelled, “WTF!” He didn’t even really know what happened. He turned around when he saw me punishing Fama.

“I’m sorry man. Your chair hit her when you stood up. Are you OK?”

Garrett rolled up his sleeve and there was a mark on his arm, but thankfully he wasn’t bleeding.

“I’m fine Sergeant,” he said, but his face said he was still pretty angry.

I felt terrible about the incident. It wasn’t really her fault, because she was provoked. I shouldn’t have allowed the situation to happen. It was only a couple of days since SFC Sully had talked to me about my responsibilities with my dog, and I had already made a big error in judgement, and now the whole patrol team was scared of my dog. We had our work cut out for us. Because we had an important job to do, and making friends was not even in the top 5 on our priority list, it was going to take some time.

I put Fama’s muzzle on and headed down to the motorpool where the guys were getting the trucks ready for the mission. Everyone was keeping their distance from Fama until they noticed the muzzle. I was trying to put everybody at ease, myself included, and get Fama used to being around this group of people and their equipment. They also had to get used to us being around. They couldn’t afford to be thinking about Fama when we were on patrol. they had more important things with which to occupy their time.

Many of the guys came up, but not too close, and asked questions. They were very interested, but cautiously so. The only one that seemed at ease was Jeff. He was a Military consultant, working as a contractor on our FOB. He had 26 years experience on a big city police force, and was a member of all the tactical entry and maritime teams (think SWAT). He had been around a number of working dogs before and knew how to act. He made sure I was between Fama and his soft parts.

“I’ve got German Shepherds at home…” [i]here we go again[/i] I thought, “… but nothing like her. She’s a beautiful dog, but she doesn’t even look remotely friendly. I don’t think I want to mess with her until she gets to know me.” [i]Smart guy.[/i]

Fama was all business. Everything that moved was immediately scrutinized and placed into categories. She either wanted to f$*% it, kill it, eat it, or discard it. Sometimes things fit into all 4 categories, probably in that order. She was laying at my side, quiet as a mouse, but her head never stopped moving. She was taking everything in and processing it all at hyper-speed. My Battery Commander came out to wish us well on our first mission. He fell into the last category, so she moved on to other targets.

“Wow. She’s really intense. It doesn’t look like she misses much. Is she always that alert?” he asked.

“No sir. Just when she’s in her harness. She will calm down with the guys after she gets to know them. I screwed up and let Garrett get bit this morning. I should have come to your office and told you, but I decided to get her out here with the guys so she could start getting used to them.”

“Does he still have all his appendages?” he asked.

I laughed, “Yes Sir. He’s doing just fine. I don’t think he’s going to be hanging out in my room with Fama any time soon, but he’s not injured. Just a scratch.”

“Then don’t worry about it. S#it happens. Good luck out there, and make sure you let me know if you need anything. If you are doing missions for any of the other units, make sure you let me know ahead of time and let me de-conflict any scheduling issues you may have. Your dog is too important an asset to have her laying around in her kennel. Get out there and use her.”

Music to my ears. “Roger that Sir. I’ll keep you in the loop and let you know how it’s going. I’m easing into things right now, just to see how she adjusts to the new terrain and all the new people. When I think we are ready, we will ramp it up and stay as busy as we can, while still having time to train.”

“Sounds good. Stay safe,” he said, walking back to his office.

The LT walked up to the trucks, giving the “circle-wagons” sign and yelled, “Let’s go.”

Fama and I walked to the back of our assigned truck with the three other lucky contestants that drew the short straw. One of which was Jeff. The driver dropped the ramp and Fama just went crazy. She was barking, pulling, spinning in circles; she wanted in that truck, and right now. The rest of the guys looked at me and I gave them the go-ahead to get in first. If she was this nuts, I wanted her in the far back of the truck with me blocking her way to the rest of the guys. Jeff was the last up the ramp before it was our turn. The back of the MRAP didn’t have enough room for Fama and me to go through the door side by side, and I didn’t want her to injure her feet pulling her way up the ramp on the expanded metal grating, so I let her up the ramp ahead of me and hoped for the best.

She flew into the back of the truck in a storm of barking and growling and bumped Jeff 4 or 5 times with her muzzle before I got her turned around so she was facing the ramp. Jeff reflexively jerked his arm away from Fama as she tried in vain to bite him. He just laughed.

“Don’t worry about it Sergeant. No harm, no foul,” he said.

I was relieved. I have the all clear sign and the driver raised the ramp, to a chorus of warbling wails from Fama. I had to hold onto her collar to keep her from attacking the ramp. I just sat in my seat and held onto her until the ramp was closed. I didn’t want to risk giving her a hard enough correction to stop her and shutting her down bad enough that she wouldn’t work when we got out of the truck. As soon as the ram was up, Fama immediately laid down and put her head on the floor, as if her batteries fell out. [i]What a crazy bitch.[/i]

The patrol pulled out of the FOB and headed down the road to our destination. It was only a few miles away, so the ride was short. Jeff and I talked the whole way there about the village we were going to, and what I could expect when we got there. He wanted to stick with us to see how the people reacted, and to help the younger guys adjust to the new situation. Jeff was a real pro. We were lucky to have a guy with his experience on the team.

As we approached the village, rocks started bouncing off the truck. Kids are the same everywhere. Fama looked around a bit when the first few hit the truck with a loud “gong”, but soon settled back into a restful state. As we pulled off the road, I double checked all my equipment, loaded a round in the chamber of my M9 and double checked the safety, tapped the button on the top of my GPS to make sure it was operational and hooked the long line up to Fama’s harness. I could see a swarm of kids running toward the trucks, looking for handouts of water and candy. 30 seconds before they were throwing rocks, and now they wanted free stuff. The truck stopped and Fama stood up, waiting for that evil gate to make a move. I took her muzzle off and strapped it in it’s location on my kit. The driver yelled “Clear” and dropped the ramp. Fama exploded just as before while the ramp was making it’s way to the ground. As soon as it stopped, I let her have some slack on the long line and we stepped into Afghanistan.