Soldiers and dogs and friends gone

A high school friend died a couple of days ago. Jerry Ray was a year younger than me. He was drafted around 1968 or ’69 and served with 2nd Bn 47th Infantry, a mech infantry battalion with 9th Infantry Division. 2/47 worked some of the same areas as Blackhorse. I did a search on 2/47 and watched a couple of videos. One was Cambodia and had a few minutes of an AVLB spanning a ditch and APCs and ACAVs crossing. Kind of unusual thing most people don’t think about, there was a dog on the AVLB, standing on the bumper above the track, watching the other tracks going across the bridge. Typical RVN day for the crew dog. People might wonder about dogs and track vehicles. Let’s face it, those things are loud and they move quick when steering. But you got a dog and some humans, friendship and food. I don’t know how long it takes a dog to get used to a track vehicle, but probably no longer than a human. There is a picture in the member’s area, two Blackhorse soldiers, four dogs, a cat, and two vehicles. The soldiers have food. The dogs are like anybody’s dogs when there is food – attentive. Each dog, and the cat, realizes it will get its share, so each one is waiting its turn. Soldiers and dogs and missing friends. God bless them. And us.

(Posted about 13 months ago at 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia following the death of Jerry Ray Tigert.)