Fama, the AHBD (Episode 32)

Episode 32

There was a bubble of space around us. The villagers were very interested in Fama, but didn’t want anything to do with getting inside leash range. They were all talking in excited tones with lots of arm flinging and pointing, which Fama didn’t appreciate at all. She lunged to the end of the leash repeatedly. The sound of her teeth snapping was audible over the commotion. The two soldiers assigned as my security detail were getting a kick out of the situation.

“I sure like having your dog around,” said Justin.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Usually the villagers would be mobbing us right now, especially the kids. They always want us to give them water and candy. We always bring some stuff to hand out, but they are never satisfied and they get nasty when you run out of stuff to give them. They even try taking stuff off your kit if you don’t watch them,” said Justin.

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about anybody getting that close as long as you stick with Fama.”

She started to calm down when she figured out that she wasn’t going to get to bite anybody. I reeled her in to walk just in front of me as we approached the house of the village elder, whom the LT had a meeting with. I stopped right in front of the door and waited for the LT to speak with the old man. He asked where the meeting was to take place, and the elder pointed to an outbuilding behind the house that was a warehouse with 3 sides walled in. There were 2 trucks backed up to the warehouse and several laborers were unloading bags of green tea, called chai.

As we were standing by the doorway, Fama started to show some interest in the inside of the house. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I assumed she saw someone walking around, or maybe a chicken, but after a minute passed and she was still showing interest in the doorway, I let some slack out of the long line, allowing her to get her nose inside the doorway. The village elder jumped back into the house, obviously afraid of Fama, and began talking in heated tones. The interpreter said that the dog was a filthy animal and the elder didn’t want her inside the house.

In the midst of the translated conversation going on between the LT and the elder, Fama went into tractor pull mode. She was on odor, and wanted in the house. The LT was starting to backpedal in the conversation, apologizing to the elder for the behavior of the dog. Jeff had walked up and realized what was going on, and that Fama was on odor.

Jeff interrupted the conversation. “Hey LT. We’re going in that house. I don’t care what the old guy says.” He looked at the interpreter and said, “You tell him to get his people out of the house right now and we are going in with the dog. If he doesn’t like that, Winners, Fama and I are going in there to convince them.”

Through the whole heated conversation, I was watching they old guy, and what I could see of the inside of the house, for anything out of the ordinary. Things go bad quickly sometimes. I backed up away from the door and had Fama perform a quick sweep of the exterior of the house.

After the terp (interpreter) explained the situation to the old man, he quickly called to his family, and they soon started filing through the door to stand in a group outside, where they would be questioned by the intel guys. After our perimeter sweep, Fama and I came back to the door. I asked the terp to confirm that the house was empty. The old guy nodded his head, quickly returning to his complaints. I tuned out the rest of the world and tried to concentrate on the task. There was a range of emotions trying to pull me in different directions. I was excited to have a potential find on our first mission, but nervous about what that find may be. Part of me wanted to charge in and see what was in there, but the other part wanted to call EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and let them walk in that door.

F$%& it.

I brought Fama up along side the door and put her in a down so I could assess the situation inside the house. She reluctantly complied. She didn’t have any compunctions about going in the door at all. I did my visual scan of the room, hearing Heath’s voice in my head as I scrutinized the area. Door, floor, left to right, right to left, ceiling. Nothing was out of the ordinary for a relatively affluent household in the middle east. There were rugs covering the concrete floors with pillows strewn about the room for sitting or laying comfortably, and hutches against the walls, holding what ornamentation the family could afford.

After checking to be sure that the guys had set up a perimeter around the house, and that everything was under control, I looked down at Fama. She was locked onto me, waiting for the signal to start the search. I reached down and patted her head, to her annoyance, and whispered, “Be safe mama.” I gave her the search command and she launched into action. After she was finished checking the doorway, I let her have some slack and stepped to the side of the doorway, reaching into the room with my left hand to control the leash, placing the stone wall of the house between me and anything that went boom inside the house. I held my breath and closed my eyes as Fama searched the room. My heart was beating against the bullet proof plate on the inside of my armor; my breathing forced. Mr. Adrenaline had definitely joined the party.

I pictured Fama working as I felt her movement through the leash. She had reached the far corner of the room and was working he way back toward the door. I was reeling in the slack as to keep a small bit of tension on the leash when she quickly changed direction and took more line. This was it. I had felt that move dozens of times. She had it in her nose, and was about to respond. I came out of my Avatar state and motioned for everyone to get down, following my own advice. The leash stopped. I called to Fama to see if she would come to the door, meaning she hadn’t found anything. The only sound was her tail thumping against the floor. I stood up and motioned to Jeff that she had found something.

Mr. Adrenaline had been joined by Dr. Pucker. I looked in the door to find Fama indicating on a tall cupboard next to the door into what appeared to be the bedroom. I pulled my drop hide from my pocket and tossed on the ground 10 yards away from the house, and then pulled out a ball to lure Fama out into the yard. It took a few tries to get he to look over to me, but when she saw the ball, she came racing out of the house. I asked her to search the spot where I had placed the small bag of black powder. She found it immediately and I paid her.

I put Fama on the 6′ leash, and found the LT to let him know what was going on. I had to explain, for the second time, that I couldn’t tell him what type of substance she had found, or the quantity of that substance. He made the call to have us investigate the cupboard. A team entered and cleared the house, to be sure no one was hiding, and inspected the exterior of the cupboard. After finding nothing suspicious, they opened the cupboard. I was watching with great anticipation through the door from the front yard. I saw a hand go in, and an AK47 come out, along with a pile of magazines full of ammunition.

A density that had been in the air suddenly was lifted, and I let out the breath I had been subconsciously holding. It was a good find. My baby girl had done her job. Nobody got hurt. Everyone was happy. It was legal for them to have the rifle and ammunition, so the family was thanked for their cooperation, given a case of water, and left to go on about their business. Fama and I searched the warehouse where the meeting was to take place, and the vehicles that were in the immediate area.

While milling about waiting for the meeting to conclude, I noticed that the worried consternation with which everyone had been looking at Fama had changed to pride and interest. She kept the demanding villagers at bay, provided a source of interest for the villagers besides the soldiers, and had located a weapon from outside a house. This mission was a big step in the direction of acceptance. Fama got thumbs up and calls of “Good Girl” from the guys on the way back to the trucks. The patrol team was seeing what an asset we could be. Jeff was full of compliments when we got back in the truck, even after Fama tried to bite him through her muzzle again.

“Before this deployment is over, I’m gonna pet that dog, and she’s gonna like it,” he said.

“We’ll see about that,” I smiled. I was a proud Daddy.