Sandy Steele's dog Susie Says
A Soldier's Best Friend
Dusty, the boxer from next door and I were watching CNN this morning, when a story about an American soldier fighting in the Middle East came on. It seems that the man died in battle and his dog “Hawkeye” wouldn't leave his side. Hawkeye followed his master all the way home and laid down beside his coffin at the funeral service... and cried and cried.
So called “War Dogs” also recently helped in the extermination of Osama bin Laden, our Country's enemy # 1. In fact, canines have fought in every war for America since the Civil War. They fought in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Iraq Wars number one and two, and Afghanistan. This means that for the last hundred years on average, American men, women and dogs have fought in wars and died each decade.
...and so Hawkeye cried.
Man's best friend is a fearsome warrior. They fight with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Dogs have parachuted from 30,000 feet into oceans, scaled cliffs, sniffed bombs through jungles, attacked nests of machine guns and licked the faces of their companions every night. Estimated deaths for all dogs in all the wars...1,000,000. Estimated deaths for their military masters...87 million. Estimated deaths for all war civilians...80 million.
....and so Hawkeye cried.
The silly thing is that after all these wars and millions of deaths, we seem to be friends today with the very people we fought with. It seems that humans might learn something from dogs like me and Dusty.
You see, when other dogs not from our neighborhood, try to come into our yards, we charge at them and bark like hell! But we never bite. I guess we handle our potential battles like the “smart” human world leaders who dealt with “The Cold War” for decades. As far as I know, not too many dogs, or humans, or even cats, actually died in that War.
In 2010, The Pentagon announced that after years of research and over 19 billion dollars spent to build the ultimate bomb detector, they discovered that trained dogs were still the best. Just think, there is something really really important that dogs actually do much better than people. And we'll do it just for a hug and a kiss. Many of these loyal guardians, whose companions are killed in action, are allowed to live with the soldiers' parents. This was also the case for Hawkeye.
... and so Hawkeye cried..tears of joy.
Catch you later,
Sandy and Susie
P.S. The other day while Sandy was shopping, Dusty and I walked over to the parking meter. Dusty said, “How about that. Pay toilets!”
For more info on Sandy and Susie go to www.sandysteele.com
To see all their blogs go to: http://sandy-steele.blogspot.com
