Military Officer - April 2007 - (Page 96) encore Brownie Points What should you do when your new CO’s dog is running loose on base? One young lieutenant junior grade decides to tell his CO — and now it’s he who wants to run away. W hen I was a young and very green lieutenant junior grade in the Navy, I was transferred to the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “Gitmo,” as it is commonly called, was only my second duty station. I had spent the previous two years in the Washington, D.C., area attending schools and receiving onthe-job training in intelligence. In the Navy it is customary to make a social call on your CO at his home as soon as it is feasible after arriving at a new duty station. Within the first week I dutifully made an appointment and showed up at the commander’s quarters for my social call. The visit was pleasant and short. I met the commander’s wife and children, snacked on cookies, and drank tea. I even met the family dog, a nondescript little brown mutt. A few days later, as I was returning to my office from lunch, I saw what I thought might be the boss’s dog running down the middle of the street. I quickly decided that I needed to take action. A dog running loose in traffic was obviously in danger of being run over. Besides, a dog not on a leash was a violation of the base regulations. It was my duty to report such violations. Rather than call the Shore Patrol about the dog, however, I decided to check with my boss first and maybe garner a few brownie points for myself. Although I had been to my boss’s home and seen his dog just a few days before, I wasn’t 100-percent sure I could identify this dog as his. I rushed to his office and, still breathing 96 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2007 hard, asked, “Commander, does Brownie wear a choker chain?” He looked puzzled and said, “What?” I repeated my question: “Does Brownie wear a choker chain?” He still didn’t understand, so I elaborated, “Does Brownie wear one of those little choker chain collars? I think I just saw her running loose out on the street.” He looked at me quizzically and replied, “My dog is Brenda. Brownie is my wife.” I was so embarrassed I could have crawled under the tile on the floor. My faux pas became the joke of the base for a while, and, much to my chagrin, the commander enjoyed telling everyone about it. MO — Herman W. Hughes, Ph.D., is a retired Navy Reserve captain. He lives in Lakeport, Calif. Tell Your Story ■ Share your servicerelated adventures (or mishaps) by e-mail to encore@moaa.org, or mail them to Encore Editor, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. All submissions will be considered for publication. ILLUSTRATION: ELWOOD SMITH
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.