MY LAST TOUR OF DUTY

(also known as being short)

Working in the armory has gotten me out of the bush and the line of fire.
Being a night kennel men has spared me from walking the wire.

Yet I miss working my dog and being with the guys at night.
I often watched them after guard mount as they left the hill until they were out of sight.

I missed the comrade the k-9 troops in that way.
And taking that easy (skating) job was a great day.

On my last work night I missed the traditional goodbyes.
You see as guard mount is dismissed, stones are
thrown at you from the guys. (actually gravel)

I guess they forgot me since we now worked differently,
But I missed out on my last work night as you can see.

I never got the chance to say goodbye in the way we did back then.
For that was the trait and tradition of the K-9 men.

Yet a few days later they did say goodbye as I was taking off on my way up and out.
They shot off flares from everywhere, no one else on the plane knew why,
but I wanted to shout.

You see, that was another part of the traditional goodbyes.
Lighting up the sky was their goodbye, a goodbye from The Guys.
On your last night they let you pick your own post and go out on late guard mount.
I bet the gravel is still up on that old hill. Night Kennel men
consisted of making the duty roster and assigning
a post to each k-9 team. Then you had charge of the armory and handed out the weapons
to the troops. After they went to their posts you had to
clean the kennel runs and put out the food for the dogs so they could eat when they
returned, have the new roster posted, put away the weapons upon
their return. All in all it was a good job when you were SHORT.