To The Dogs

In a recent post, I wrote about my experiences in Baghdad. After that deployment, I requested to attend the Military Working Dog Handler course at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. At the graduation ceremony, I was honored with the Top Dog award for obedience. I was then assigned to Fort Richardson, Alaska. When I arrived, I was paired up with Lux, a 2 year old German Shepherd. Lux and I were the only certified drug detection team on the base, so we stayed pretty busy. I worked with Lux until I was discharged from the Army, and I was sad that I had to leave him.

When I became a civilian again, I drove from Alaska to my hometown - Chardon, Ohio. At this point of my life, I was confused, sad, frustrated, and unsure of my future. To remedy my situation, I decided to get a puppy! I called Geauga Humane Society's Rescue Village until they told me that they had 10 puppies I could choose from. I drove to the animal shelter, and by the time I arrived, all but 2 of the puppies had found a home. The lady at the shelter told me that the puppies were found by a couple walking through a local park. The rescue shelter raised the puppies until they were old enough to have the necessary immunizations, at which point someone could adopt them. The shelter was able to feed the puppies only what food was donated. Rescue Village fed them baby bottle formula, and the puppies did not receive the nutrients and minerals that are essential for development. This caused the puppies to develop cataracts. So, I had 2 blind puppies to choose from. I put them both on a couch, one on each side of me. One of the pups wandered away from me, and the other walked towards me, bumped into me, and started licking my hand. I wanted to take them both, but I decided to take the one that was more curious about me. I named him Jude, and he's been my best friend ever since!

When I first brought Jude home he was pretty much blind - he ran into a barn, countless trees, picnic tables, chairs, people, and anything else that was in his way. The veterinarian recommended that I feed him Purina ONE^® SMARTBLEND^® Lamb & Rice Formula, to help with his vision. As Jude grew older, his vision got better. He still bumps into things, but not nearly as much as he did when he was a puppy. He is very much like the superhero Daredevil. Although his vision is impaired, Jude's remaining four senses function with high levels of sensitivity and accuracy; few know that he cannot see. 

Jude and I moved to Alabama so that I could start my education at Jacksonville State University. During the summer of my sophomore year, I visited my friends in Albertville, Alabama. Joe and Sherry's dogs (Sasha - a German Shepherd & Bama - a Chocolate Lab) had a litter of puppies, and they told me that I could take one home if I wanted to. I did! While I was driving home, I glanced down at this beautiful, 1-week-old puppy and decided that her name would be April. 

The nice, quiet life that Jude and I had been living, ended when April arrived. If Jude were to be a Jedi Knight, then April would have to be considered a Sith Lord. As a puppy, April destroyed my golf shoes, a textbook, the carpeting in my house, and most of my flowers, shrubs, and trees.

Even if I came home from school and my house, personal possessions, and plants were decimated, I was still happy that the dogs had each other to play with. It took some time, but I eventually got April under control. We were now one big happy family!

Dogs need love. So, give them as much of it as possible! Here are a few other tips on how to do be a good dog owner:

1. Provide the best veterinarian care available. This includes: regular checkups, receiving all the necessary shots and medicines, nail trims, and flea and tick prevention.
2. Teach your dogs to do what you want them to do. I've taught April and Jude how to sit, shake (shake with right paw), paw (shake with left paw), lay down, jump up, stay, get back, heel, and I taught them both how to retrieve golf balls, too.
3. Praise your dogs every time they do what you tell them to do. There are 2 types of praise - physical praise (rubbing, petting, massaging, etc.) and verbal praise (clapping your hands, whistling, "good boy/good girl," etc.). To be more effective, use both types of praise at the same time.
4. Correct your dog every time they don't do what you tell them to do. There are 2 types of corrections physical correction (pulling back on a leash hooked up to the collar or choke chain) and verbal correction ("NO"). To be more effective, use both types of corrections at the same time. Then, restate the original command. Praise the dog if it does what it's told to do. Correct the dog if it disobeys, and start this process over.
5. Keep your dog clean. My dogs take a shower with me every Friday morning; they know it as "tub-tub time." I wash them with Pantene Pro-V shampoo and conditioner.
6. Feed your dog. April and Jude are fed 2 meals per day; breakfast is served at 6:00 am, and dinner is served at 6:00 pm.

 

April and Jude love human food, too! When I cook for myself at home, I always prepare a little something extra to share with them. Some of their favorite foods are: steak, chicken, fish, pasta, peas, tomato sauce, and peanut butter crackers. We all enjoyed a nice steak lunch this afternoon!

  
In closing, here's a quote from the book I'm reading. James Herriot wrote, "It is always said that however many wonderful and happy years a dog lives, you know that one day, the day he dies, your dog will break your heart." He continues, "I have always advised people to get a replacement as soon as possible after their dog has died: a new and endearing pup helps enormously to fill the gaping void one always experiences after a much-loved dog has gone." I agree wholeheartedly with his philosophy. And I'll be taking his advice, when the time comes. Until then, I am quite content with my 2 big, black, beautiful dogs - April and Jude.

 To The Dogs

Football

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The first time I played on a football team I was in the 5th grade. I played for my school's team, and we were known as the St. Mary's Vikings. I was horrible! I couldn't throw the ball. I couldn't run the ball. I couldn't catch the ball. So, I played offensive and defensive line. When the ball was snapped I would either rush the quarterback or block a member of the opponent's defense. I usually stood out from the other players on the line of scrimmage. I would carry out my assignment until I got tired, at which point I would stop, turn to the sideline, and stare at the cheerleaders. My logic was simple: If I could put up with the coaches yelling, a lot of running, and survive the blocking and tackling drills at practice each week, then I would be able to to don my Viking uniform, play in the game, and proceed to watch the cheerleaders. What a bright young lad! Watching the cheerleaders is still my favorite part of the game!

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I didn't play football in the 6th grade. The most likely explanation is because there was too much exercise involved, but I can't honestly remember why I decided not to join the team. At the end of 6th grade summer, my brother, sister, and I were ordered by the court to spend two weeks in Arizona with our father. He had petitioned the courts for out-of-state visitation rights. The trip was to be a test. If we came home and told the court appointed psychologist that we had a good time and wanted to return, he would be granted the visitation rights. Things were going fine until my father and I had a misunderstanding. My father watched from inside as my brother and I played. We were playing with a remote controlled car in the driveway. My father's take on the situation was that I had bullied my brother into letting me control the car, so he came outside and called me over. He threw me against a wall and started poking my chest with his finger. He kept asking me, "How do you like it? How do you like getting bullied?" So, I told him that I hadn't done anything wrong and that it was simply my turn to play with the toy. He took me inside and made me sit on the couch, so that we could talk. We got into a fight instead. I called him a fag (it was the worst name someone at school could be called) and, in what seemed like in an instant, he was on top of me. His strong hands gripped my throat tightly. He raised my body up and slammed me back down on the couch, over and over again. Each time he did so, the back of my head smashed into the armrest of the couch. I was crying, I couldn't breathe, and I wondered if I ever would again. He eventually stopped. No other incidents occurred while my siblings and I waited to return home. My father was not awarded visitation rights.

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The events in Arizona affected me deeply; in a matter of minutes, I was forever changed. I came home and signed up to play football. I decided that playing football would be a good way to make myself stronger, so that I would never again be unable to defend myself or my family. In 7th grade I imagined every player on the opposing team was my father. I tried to punish those players for what my father did to me. And I did! If I was up against an opponent that was too big, too tough, or too fast, whatever the case may be, all I had to do was pull out a picture of my father (I tucked one in my uniform before each game). Looking at that picture, after having my ass kicked by the competition, would send me in to somewhat of a bezerker rage. I didn't feel any pain. I was inflicting the pain! And no one could stop me.

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The Vikings got a new head coach when I was in the 8th grade, Coach Conochan. He had played center for the West Virginia Mountaineers, and he's forgotten more about football than I'll ever know. He taught me that the center is the leader of the offensive line. A leader is what I wanted to be, so for the rest of my football career I played as center. I absorbed as much knowledge as I could at practice, and worked on perfecting everything I had learned when I got home. We had a good season, and it was a lot of fun! I was named the most improved player on my team. 

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My high school football coach, Bob Doyle, used the Bigger Faster Stronger, Inc. (BFS) program. If you wanted to play on his team you had to learn the program, so I did just that. While I was still in 8^thgrade, I started going to the off-season football training program with the high school students. I had the most trouble with plyometrics; I couldn’t jump over the hurdles or onto the boxes. The high school players were becoming quite perturbed with me because I kept holding them up. I needed to fix this problem. I began jumping over smaller objects on my back porch until this weakness was turned into one of my strengths.  

 

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I was 14 when I started playing football for Chardon High School. We were known as the Hilltoppers. My typical school-day was as follows: 

5:45 am - wake up, get ready for school, and eat breakfast

6:15 am - get to school before workouts started

6:30 am - lift weights in gym (MWF), or plyometrics (TTh)

7:15 am - get ready for school

7:38 am - help the "lunch ladies" prepare breakfast in 1st period study hall (I helped out and, in return, they gave me a half-priced breakfast.)

8:15 am - attend all other classes for the day

2:38 pm - school ends/get ready for football practice

3:15 pm - practice begins

5:30 pm - practice ends

5:35 pm - clean up and go home

6:00 pm - family dinner, do homework, do chores, and try to watch some TV

10:00 pm - bedtime

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The Hilltoppers had won the State Championship when I was 12. So, my coaches knew what it took to win. They always gave us great motivational speeches! They told us that Tecumseh said, "a single twig breaks, but the bundle of twigs is strong." I agree with this completely. However, I always felt that it was my duty to not only be a stick in a bundle, but also to be the binding that held the sticks together. After all, I was the center. I led by example, and my teammates followed me. We worked hard, and when I was a junior, we played in the state championship game! In the final seconds of the 4th quarter, the opposing team threw a hook-and-ladder pass that resulted in the game winning touchdown. I was named team captain when I was a senior. One college sent me a recruiting letter, but I knew I was just too small to play college offensive line (5'8" 165 lbs.). My football career was over.

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My last blog post discussed my first cooking competition and how I decided to play football instead of compete in the State Fair cooking competition. I'm proud of that decision; it made me who I am today. Deciding to put football before cooking has impacted my life in many ways, but none more than my experiences in the United States Army. I went from leading young men on a football field to leading women and men on a battlefield. I was in Baghdad for Operation Iraqi Freedom III. I was a Sergeant and I was paratrooper. During this deployment I was the gunner in a vehicle called the ASV. My Military Police Company was tasked with protecting the main supply routes around the city. So, that all boiled down to my squad getting daily orders for which roads we were to patrol. My squad drove around the city with my ASV in front, followed by two HMMWVs. My job was to protect everyone in the squad. The best way for me to do that was to find the IEDs before the terrorists could blow us up. Once we located a possible IED, we would keep a safe distance away from the device, shut down the flow of all traffic, remain vigilant and look for secondary attacks, and wait for the EOD team to come and dispose of the device. We would go back to work and start the process all over again. Going on patrol meant that I would look through my ASV scope for about 12 hours. Every person, every vehicle, every building, every dead animal, and every pile of trash on the side of the road was a potential threat. It was my job to see everything, figure out the threat level, communicate what I saw with my leaders, engage the enemy, and defend my squad and any other coalition forces. This was the most difficult job I've ever had. The stress of finding the IEDs and protecting my squad was overwhelming. I spent my down-time listening to The Beatles, cross-stitching, and thinking about my home and my family.

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Playing football prepared me for my duties overseas. As the center, I would sprint to the line of scrimmage after the quarterback called the play. The defense would line up in their formation when they saw me running towards the ball. So, I was able to look at their defense and figure out if the play we just called would work well against their defense. We would either run the play called, or I would tell the other offensive linemen any blocking assignment changes, or I would tell the quarterback that he should audible to a play that would put the offensive linemen in the best possible position to attack the flaws in our opponent's defense. There wasn't much time for me to make all the calculations, and there was no room for error. When I decided what the best course of action to take would be, I needed to effectively communicate what I saw to the rest of the team. I always got the job done! My vision, my cunning, and my communication skills had been honed over the many football games I played in. These skills were essential to my survival and to the survival of my squad. I believe that without having gained these skills while playing football, I would be dead. 

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My job in Baghdad was very stressful, but I was good at it. I was awarded a Bronze Star Medal for finding more IEDs than anyone else in my MP Company. I don't care about medals or awards; I care only about the women and men I worked with, just as I cared for the members of my football team. Football made me tough, strong, smart, cunning, and powerful. Playing football turned me into leader. That, in turn, made me into a good soldier. So, in looking back, I'm quite satisfied with my decision to put football before cooking.