Soldier's Best Friend

An affecting testimonial to the bond between American soldiers in Vietnam and their canine helpers, "A Soldier's Best Friend" is veteran John C. Burnam's account of his tenure as a scout dog handler patrolling the jungles of Vietnam with his German shepherd. There were 10,000 soldiers in Vietnam like Burnam, accompanied by these intelligent, adaptable scout dogs. Between hazardous missions, the dogs were loving, playful friends who shared the lives of their human squadmates, while in the combat zone they were all business.Routinely braving danger, the canines searched for injured GIs, potentially lethal booby traps, underground weapons caches and warned of approaching enemy attacks and ambushes. So valuable was their service that the Viet Cong offered a hefty bounty for their lives. Despite their heroism, many of these dogs were abandoned after the war and left to fend for themselves. Since the 1990s, this book has had two, self-published runs & one as a trade title, selling out all three print runs.