Page 15 WE WALKED ALONE

WE WALKED ALONE

by John James

Many years ago I arrived at a place called Lackland .

There I was alone and young.

You were alone and young like me.

They put us together as Sentry Dog Team.

They trained us to work as a team

We learned together, like obedience, alerting, attach and search.

We learned to work alone.

We went to place a place called McCoy.

There we worked as team protecting McCoy from the unknown.

There we trained to become a better team.

You learned about me and I about you.

There we walked alone.

We grow to love each other only as man and his dog can.

I learned to read your alerts and what they meant.

You learned what I wanted you to do.

We become a tight team.

We walked alone.

They sent us as team to place called Vietnam.

There we protected places call Phan Rang and Tuy Hoa.

We were trained for this kind of work.

We patrolled the base to keep a unknown out and be the first line defense

We walked alone.

We grow closer as time went on.

You protected me and I did the same for you.

We worked at night to make sure the base was safe.

We worked in the rain and wind.

We worked in the heat of night.

We walked alone.

For a year we work as team.

Then my time was up and I had to leave you alone.

You did your job for 5 more years with others.

You and your handler walked alone.

I went home alone and thought of you often over the years.

As the years go by I know that we walked alone so others could be safe.

The time we spent together we were never alone.

For we had each other.

When we meet again in a better place we will be a team again.

There we will walk together with all your other handlers.

We will walk together with all the teams that walked alone.

by John James

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