MWD Duke – Australia(Badge On My Collar)

Away from the potential dangers in their new surroundings, there was always the countryside. Tricia and the other handlers loved taking the dogs down to the beach, which was about a ten-minute walk from the huts, to go for a swim in the crystal ocean. Duke remembered his swims in Australia, and as soon as he first saw the ocean in East Timor he started pulling like a freight train. Tricia ran happily into the waves with him as he led the way. The water was just what they needed to cool hot, tired bodies, whether human or canine, and as the bright sun reflected off the tranquil water, Duke and Tricia splashed playfully in the refreshing sea.



After sizing up the situation, Duke had had a change of heart about jumping. He clung with his paw to the helicopter door for dear life preserving the option to hop back aboard if he deemed it necessary. With his boot, the loadmaster tried to carefully nudge Duke’s paw off the edge so that Tricia would not continue to dangle there, held up by a hesitant dog having second thoughts. But Duke was adamant that the paw would stay right where it was. Under no circumstances would he allow it to become dislodged.


Click here to buy Badge On My Collar
by Marilyn Jeffers Walton