#1

Back in 1975 if you were a jeep you were someone that was new to the country and new to the Air Force.
This is a story of a new guy...Me: Marty Jones. It was 31 Oct 1974, and I had been in country for about a month. I was assigned to a K-9 flight of 30-40 dog handlers. I was a jeep so I had a dog that was quite simply too old to bite. I had no confidence in the dog nor in the jeep that was working the post next to me. These were the days of the true K-9 post with the post being around 100 yds by 300 yds.
The post we were given this night was on the bases' perimeter and as we were getting off the back of the 2 1/2 ton truck, we both noted that there was a graveyard on the off base side of the fence. I did not care for that and the guy with me did not like it at all.
After dark the Filipinos started doing something that scared the hell out of both of us. They were singing in their language and bringing lighted candles into the graveyard. I had heard my Baptist preacher talk about Devil worshipping and how they burned candles and sacrificed people. Upon seeing these things I had convinced both myself and the new guy next to me that we were going to be a part of the sacrifice next. It did not help when the supervisor came by to check on us and the only thing he said after being briefed was "I don't want anything to do with this and I am out of here." We were told of the Filipino way of celebrating "All Saint's Day" when we were picked up.
My Filipino wife still lights a candle for her and my loved ones on this date. I was later told that the supervisor was going to mess with us more, but found us to be so scared that any one that came near us would have been shot for sure.

#2

I had a fear of snakes all my life. This was not good for a dog handler assigned to K-9 in the Philippines.
Anyway, Rod Haneline and I were on Drug Dog patrol one day and stopped by Animal Control to talk with a guy by the name of "Trapper John." Trapper was quite experienced in handling snakes and brought out Pete the Python so that we could handle him. Well, both Rod and I held Pete for a while and when I was done I let the snake drop to the ground. This must have pissed him off and when Trapper reached down to pick him up, he grabbed him about 8" from the head. The snake then bent around and bit Trapper in the arm.
The bite was huge about 2-3" around and about 1" deep. He quickly dropped the snake and we placed a dressing on his arm and rushed him to the hospital. We had a problem there when no Doctor had ever seen a snake bite like this and they were calling in every Doctor in the hospital to look at the wound.
I looked at Trapper who was turning snow white and tapped a Doctor on the shoulder and asked him if they should think about treating Trapper for shock. They then really looked at Trapper and began really saving him. So much for Air Force Docs. Trapper recovered and did well. Pete was Captured and placed back into his box.

#3

It was around one month after Bob Gray was Killed. I was on Drug dog patrol with another handler. We had one radio assigned to the two of us which was SOP at the time. Each of us had two slap flares if we needed them. We were given a list of Dormitories and we had to run the dogs through the common areas.
We got the dorms next to the building that the 374 Intel and our QC had their offices in. We split up he took the third floor and I took the 1st, we would both do the 2nd. I was working Max Z123 and he was a really bad ass drug dog. He was a little too aggressive to be a drug dog but I loved this dog. Anyway I got done first and heard a door being kicked in. I looked toward the building and noted that a light that was always on was not on. I then heard additional sounds of a break in progress. I then notified the desk that I was going to check it out.
I ran over to the building and up the stairs. I felt at the time I could not be hurt. I had a bad ass dog and I was in the best shape of my life. Nothing could harm me... I remember thinking that as I was knocked down the stairs by a pair of bolt cutters. The Filipino that hit me then took off behind the building and towards The Negrito fence line. Max did not care for the fact that I went down and he was after the person that did it. Upon my fall, I lost my radio and was unable to make any more radio transmissions. I was able to put up a flare that showed the direction we were going.
Max was chewing on this guy like a Beagle chews on a rabbit it is chasing. He would bite the intruder, but the intruder kept on running. We then entered a large field of elephant grass and I lost them both. I was really worried about my dog. He would not come back. After about 5-7 minutes of calling for him he came back. He was wet and I did not know at first why.
I then got a light and found that he was covered with blood. Well, by the time I made it back to the crime scene there were about 100 cops there. The commander was there and saw the blood dripping from Max. He asked if the dog was hurt. Max was not hurt, it was blood from the intruder. Well, we formed a line of cops and searched the field. Did not find the guy. We thought he was dead. 2 days later I noted his photo on the front page of the local newspaper. He was covered in bandages, OSI got with the PC and interviewed him. He told the press that he was picking up trash on the base. Not so, they busted up a big theft ring. I learned that I was not as bad as I thought I was. I also learned that I had a great dog.
Here's to you Max.