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Army Woof: Tales from a soldier’s best friend

                Some people might think it’s odd that a dog is writing a blog about Army life. However, I feel that too long has the family pet and soldier’s best friend been without a voice! So, I decided to start writing about my adventures as the loyal pet of an Army officer and his wife. I guess before I start telling my tails (haha) I should fill you in on how I became an Army dog.

                It all started when my last owner asked her neighbor to find me a new home because she couldn’t feed me anymore. I don’t remember much of my life before I met my new owners, but as far as I know I was mostly wondering the streets of Memphis, TN eating what I could find. Then that nice neighbor brought me to this amazing woman’s house. She was so nice to me and told me that her daughter and son-in-law were moving in the next day and that they would love me. As soon as they came in the door, I knew that they would make great owners! I sealed the deal by being extra cute that night and cuddling up on the bed with them. Even though I hadn’t had a haircut or seen a vet in a long time, they promised that I could stay and they would try to find me a good home. The next day they took me to the vet and had me groomed. They even paid for me to get my teeth fixed and micro chipped! Before I knew it, they agreed to adopt me and we have been a little family ever since. They are so good to me and I am so glad they saved me because I would have starved out there. My owners are Dave and Tia, a real nice couple who are also new to this whole Army thing. They don’t have any children yet, so I get spoiled…and I like it!

                I quickly learned that Tia was a hairstylist and loved to sing…all the time! It’s not too bad because she is pretty good; sometimes she even sings things really loud and high in some crazy language. I also learned that Dave was going to be going to basic training for the Army. He left only a few months after he adopted me to go to basic at Ft. Benning and Tia was really sad. I watched her write letters to him every night while he was gone but it was so great when he came home for Christmas! I had missed him calling me “big guy” and playing squeaky squirrel with me. Dave was working on becoming an officer and soon after the New Year, Tia told me that we would be moving to Ft. Sill, OK once he graduated Officer Candidate School.

                It was a crazy week when Dave graduated. I guess Tia’s mom and dad were also going to be moving and the entire house was getting packed up! I was worried that I was going to get boxed up and sent to the wrong house. Luckily, Tia and Dave were able to load up a U-haul truck in only one day and we were on our way to Oklahoma in no time. Since this was our first move and we were doing it all by ourselves, I was nervous! I had never been anywhere except Memphis and this was all new to me. There were so many new smells and sounds and sights! It took me and my owners a long time to get used to the wind here too.  Dave is going to school for field artillery, which as far as I can tell is where he goes out into a big field and makes a huge noise like thunder. Tia is always telling me to listen to Dave making noise and not to bark at it, but sometimes I still growl when it’s a big boom. I like it here, especially because I have some new friends whose owners are Tia’s friends. We go on long walks and sometimes go on a drive to this place where huge critters called “buh-fah-low” live. I think they might be really big dogs, but Tia won’t let me close enough to find out.

Anyway, when Dave graduates in a few months we’re moving to Germany! I don’t even know where that is…I’ll have to google that and get back to you. I guess it must be a fun place because Tia and Dave won’t stop talking about it. Tia keeps gibbering away in this weird language and calling me her “hoo-nt”. I don’t know what that is either, but it sounds good to me! Well, I better finish this up before Dave’s alarm goes off. He gets up so early and then puts on this weird outfit so that when he stands in the backyard I can’t see him! Humans, huh? Alright, well I’ll have more to tell about my stay here in Oklahoma next week!

Toby