Remembering - Memorial Day

Monday - May 30, 2011

Always Remember - Never Forget

Last year my partner and I went to a very special presentation at the Calvary Christian Center in Yuba City. They asked all the Vietnam Veterans to come up on the stage. My partner was the only female Vet, and I was the only doggie!! They put on an extremely realistic and moving montage of a Vietnam jungle patrol that gets ambushed, then airlifted to an Aid Station, which in turn gets attacked and severely damaged. The huge auditorium was filled with noises: first the subtle sounds of the jungle insects and the soldiers footsteps and equipment as they moved thru the aisles of the darkened auditorium, then the firefight with its M16s, AK47s and grenades, followed quickly by screams of pain and yells for the medic, then the helicopters to medivac them out to the Aid Station... 

At the sound of the M16s and the AK47s and the grenades, my partner started to get sick. She was rocking back and forth and shaking. When the helicopter sounds came, she went away from me. I tried really hard to bring her back: I pawed at her, jumped up on her, tugged hard on the leash. I even pawed at the soldier sitting next to her. I couldn't make her come back. I finally jumped really hard on her and she came back, but was really sick. The soldier was talking to her, but she wasn't talking back. She finally listened to me and got up to leave. Even though the auditorium was pitch black, I was easily able to find all the doors thru all the halls to get us outside. 

I found a hard place around a tree where my partner could sit awhile. I did a paws up and laid partially across her lap and let her hold me, breathe me, stroke me. When she finally slowed down, she gave me a nice treat and we got up to leave. Out by the parking lot, the Army had parked a bunch of their moving crates. From the old jeep to some pretty humongous thingies; they were all pretty impressive. We walked over there and my partner was pretty relaxed talking to the Officers & Soldiers. She told them she was once in the Army - they didn't seem to care as they were quite smitten by ME and my flashing, flouncy, fancy petticoats!! They let me get into their moving crates in the front row. My partner NEVER lets me get in the front row - and she always makes me wear a seat belt. These soldiers let me go in the front and I didn't have to wear a seat belt in any of the moving crates. They all laughed at me when I put my paws on the circles in front of the seats. What was funny about that? I see my partner doing that when she's in that seat. My partner had taken my vest off, so I got to be loose on my leash and got to solicit all the attention I wanted from these humans dressed in green clothes. They all looked alike. They must buy their clothes from the same store.

So for the last week, my partner has been doing the weirdest thing. She has been on this silver machine and has had it making loud noises. Thank heavens she has stopped it after today. She was listening to noises made by M16s, AK47s, grenades, machine guns and the dreaded helicopters. Every time the helicopters started, she'd begin to get shaky, and she'd go away from me. I'd paw at her leg, or jump on the sofa and push at her to bring her back. She did this a couple times every day. It was not a fun week.

My partner had been in contact with a nice Captain lady who had made arrangements for us to have a special seat in the back like last year, so I'd have room to lay down and if she got sick again, we would be able to slip out without disturbing anyone. When we arrived, the Officers in the front greeted us by name! They were expecting us - we felt very special. One of them was escorting us into the auditorium, having to pass thru the patio area first which was crowded and scary for her. Then we entered the really big foyer...

I could smell my partner's extreme fear and anxiety and knew a panic attack was coming - that foyer was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with a hundred people all visiting with each other and now a lot of them noticed us and wanted to talk to us - but our escort had continued on. She was trying to respond to the people and keep walking but couldn't. Finally she told me to "Follow" and I pulled her thru that crowd, weaving thru the bodies, making a path for her until I found that Officer who was looking around for us. He took us to a nice padded bench that had a reserved sign on it just for her, and there was a nice open space next to it for me!

My partner was still in a panic state. There wasn't enough space in front of her to do an About to help her. So I did a Paws Up across her lap as best I could. My partner was shaking and she was going away and not coming back. I kept jumping on her. She was doubled over and I jumped onto her shoulders. I pulled hard on the leash telling her she needed to leave this place right NOW. I put my paw on the man sitting next to her, but he didn't know what I wanted. 

A soldier came over and talked to my partner. He talked at her several times while I was pawing her and finally she sat up and talked to me, then to him. She gave me a treat, then stood up and and at last allowed me to lead her out of that place that haunts her dreams. 

When we got home, my partner was incredibly sad that she wasn't able to watch this presentation that she wanted to see so badly. She didn't even get to see the Color Guard. She wasn't even able to go have fun with me on the Army moving crates. She so wanted to be a part of honoring Veterans on this special day. Instead, she had wimped out and felt ashamed and a failure. She got on this silver machine and made tappings to my Auntie Jeanne. That was the only good thing about this Memorial Day. So we celebrated by looking at our Military War Dog picture album which we always enjoy, and we will keep on keeping on.

Kalifornia Kota