I would like to start by saying that if
you were K-9 anywhere else in the world you would have an automatic
patrol. You would never man a gate. Never get stuck behind a desk.
Never man the radio desk. You rode each night you had your K-9. Even
if you were an Airman you rode around. Not At Clark! Clark AB
Philippine Islands K-9 handlers would hump their posts. There were
SSgts that would have to man a post. Rain or shine (or night which
is when we worked) we were out there guarding things like chain link
fence, Runway lights (why they wanted them I still don't know), the
grave yard. Anything was fair game for theft. And we guarded it. The
Base Commander made an order that the saying that he and his family
were next. Who do you think guarded him with the 3rd Air Force
General? Us. We got all the jobs that were not nice. We walked the
Mabalacat washout, the Rod and Gun club, POL, Area One, Area Two
(before and after it was declassified), all around the flight line,
The DOD Disposal area, the elephant cage, even the C130s. Even
though that should have been guarded by Security we got it. When one
us went down (Bob Gray) we all we all worked to find the murderer.
Even they could have gone home B Flt K-9 stayed all night to try and
keep his murderer from getting away. When we trained we trained
hard. Each handler acted as wrap men for the attack training at
least 500 times in their 15-month tour. We had men like TSgt Small
who would run through Area One and K-9 would have to catch him. Or
he would have K-9 sweep Mabalacat Washout as training. Once for
training exercise someone from base command decided that they wanted
to test the base's response to a hostage taking. Well the only ones
not on a post from LES or Resource Protection was K-9 because we had
just come on duty for the 3 to 11 shift and we did not take our
posts till after training for 2 hours. We got there and acted like a
Swat team. We crawled 90 feet to get close to the building. We
deployed as if we were a crack assault team. The base command brass
thought we were the base's assault team. We did a great job that day
as we did every day. But to our own brass we were just K-9. While
the LES Flights were in their trucks and manning the gates we were
kept in the shadows and only seen when needed. For we were a
necessary evil. We were needed on this thief infested base. Now I am
not saying all Filipinos were crooks. Many were hard working people.
But around our base we seamed to invite them to steal. Our job was
to stop them.
We did it well and many times without much credit or thanks.
But we all loved it.
K-9 you are the Best!
WHY WE WERE WHO WE WERE!
By Marc Hodgdon (Hodge)
We were white, we were black. We were
Hispanic and we were American Indian. We were every race creed and
color produced by the United States and couldn't have been more
diverse if we tried. But with the exception of a few older NCOs the
one thing we all had in common was that we were extremely young. We
averaged between eighteen and twenty one years old.
Back in those days we had a feeling of invincibility. We couldn't
be harmed or killed. I know I felt that way, even after Bob Gray was
killed. You strap a GAU (short stocky version of the M-16), a radio
and two or three slap flares to a handler and he feels unbeatable.
Clark Air Base in the Philippines was a unique assignment, to say
the least. It was completely unlike any other assignment in the Air
Force at the time with the exception of Thailand which was in the
process of drawing down at the conclusion of the war in Vietnam.
Of the hundreds of dog handlers stationed at Clark the majority
were young handlers like myself fresh out of dog school at Lackland.
There were some mid-tier NCOs who had been all around PACAF and most
of them had been to Thailand and/or Vietnam. Our tours at Clark were
different in the fact that we dealt with an actual enemy on the east
side of the base and in the housing areas. The intruder population
at Clark was divided into two categories. There were the garbage
pickers who rummaged through the sanitary landfill a mile east of
base supply. These people were completely harmless although they
would break and run if pursued. They would also surrender quickly
and quietly when surrounded. Then there was the professional.
The professional made his living intruding upon and ripping off
Clark for its resources in order to make money and feed his family.
They would take anything and everything. They broke into people's
homes and stole their belongings. On more than one occasion one or
more intruders were intent on doing bodily harm to handlers,
Resource Protection troops, Horse Patrol, Law Enforcement and
Security troops. One of the tragic incidents is discussed in depth
in this site. That of SrA Bob Gray.
We always did the best we could, regardless of the situation.
|
|