Reno, We’ll See You Again

I fell in love with German Shepherds while I was serving in South Vietnam. I was not a K9 handler but when our slicks Hueys would be loading up the Infantry while we circled above in our C model Huey gunships, I would once in a while see a German Shepherd leaping on board with the GRUNTS (always capitalized in my writing out of respect for the men that fought on the ground). Many times when we flew back to our home base, we would fly over a compound where those brave dogs lived in little hootches that were raised above the ground because of the monsoon seasons. I remember once when our slicks landed to pick up the ARVN’s, South Vietnamese Army soldiers, the mission could not start right away and our Charlie Charlie pilot, Command and Control Huey, radioed us and told the Hueys on the ground to shut down and the gunships to do the same. We came in for a landing and when the main rotor blade on my gunship quit spinning, I went to the rear of my chopper with the tie down to secure the rotor blade to the stinger. I still distinctly remember, that will be 40 years ago this coming October 22, when I felt something pushing on the back of my leg and turned around to see an ARVN soldier with a German Shepherd gently pushing me with his nose. I said to the ARVN, “Hey man, watch your dog,” as I knew those K9s could kill a man. The ARVN soldier spoke great English and it turned out he was as friendly as his K9 buddy. He told me, “No sweat, GI, he likes you.” We started petting this regal German Shepherd and the next thing, we know, he and his ARVN handler were inside our Huey gunship. He gave the dog a command and this magnificent animal was sitting up in my helicopter and we were taking pictures. I still have that photo after all these years. When my wife and I bought our first house in 1984, the first thing on our agenda was to make a German Shepherd a part of our family. I had always wanted to experience having the breed as a best friend and now having our own home we were able to own one but in reality, Abby owned us. We have had German Shepherds ever since that time. When a German Shepherd becomes a loyal and brave family member, you realize why they are credited with saving 10,000 lives during the Vietnam War. Sadly, our country wrote them off as equipment and most were abandoned when the United States pulled out on April 30th, 1975.

Currently we have two of those loyal companions, Sgt Ricki, a female German Shepherd that is almost 11 years old and Reno, a long haired version of that breed that is about 10 1/2. Reno has started to go downhill these past six months, we have always addressed his health concerns to get him well again but this time combating old age with medications, veterinarian’s visits and shots will just not work. He has gotten arthritic and for the last five days has not been able to get around without our help. He sometimes cannot get outside to do his business, he was housebroken at an early age and Reno feels bad that he has messed in the house. We have cleaned it up and never raised our voices to him. Tonight when we had him outside to relieve himself, he barely made it up the stairs and had to sit down even before he reached his bed. My wife and I knew the time had come to let this family member go as his quality of life is not what he is accustomed to and he is now starting to feel pain in his hips as he moaned when I went to help him up. My wife and I sat down, after we got our buddy, Reno, situated and we discussed our options. We knew that he was hurting and the quality of his life is not what he wants and what we would want for him, and we did not want to be like the people that have dogs and/or cats and keep them alive to avoid the guilt they feel for having to let their family members go in a humane way. We are not judging those folks, we just feel when the animal can no longer run in the yard and live in the manner that he/she has always had, it is time to do the right thing and let them go.

As I sit here composing my words, I glance down from time-to-time and I see our buddy, Reno, laying on his cushioned bed resting and I think to myself, “He’s all right, look at him, maybe we can withhold the inevitable a little while longer.” In reality though, I know that when he gets up to get a drink of water, eat or go outside, it will be a struggle for him so we have decided that tomorrow morning we will take him to the veterinarian and do what is best for Reno and not me and my wife. I keep pushing the thought out of my head that I am an excecutioner as I look at my buddy, Reno.

He is a big German Shepherd, 125 pounds, sable in color, long haired and very protective of my wife and myself, but once he barked to let strangers know he knew of their presence and he saw that we were comfortable with that person, he was licking their hands and wanting to be petted. He has been on many camping trips with us in our recreational vehicles, the last trip to Florida when we had to go down and visit our 90 year old aunt this year. He loves traveling and we loved taking him, Sgt Rickie and our little Heinz 57, Spike. I will stay with him tomorrow until he takes his last breath, and reassure him how much we loved him as we knew he loved us and would have given his life for ours if we were ever threatened. Some people cannot stay with their pet family members when they have to let them go, I can understand that, but we must remain with them until the end because Reno would have done that if the roles were reversed. Many people say animals do not have souls and will not enter Heaven, I am no authority on religion but it is hard to believe that the God I pray to creates such loyal friends for humans and then discards them for eternity. As my wife and I both say, “If dogs and cats do not have a chance of going to Heaven then we do not want to go either, even if we have the chance of gaining entry. I will read “Rainbow Bridge” tonight, over and over, the author of those beautiful words is unknown but whoever wrote it has brought a lot of comfort and peace for those of us that must let our family members go. Reno will be our fifth set of ashes that we have in our china cabinet, following Abbey, Bear, Murphy and Trooper. The first thee, Abbey, Bear and Murphy were German Shepherds and Trooper was a Doberman Pinscher, Murphy was Reno’s brother. These animals were and still are our best friends, along with Reno, Sgt Ricki and Spike, non-judgmental, unconditional love and loyalty that I only felt from other humans during my combat time in Vietnam. We will miss Reno but he is headed for “Rainbow Bridge” to be with all the other dogs and cats waiting on their master’s to cross over and to reunite again with them one day. Goodbye, Reno, we love you, buddy.

Joe ‘Ragman’ Tarnovsky

Joe "Ragman" Tarnovsky

Joe is a Vietnam Combat Veteran, having served 26 months in the Republic Of South Vietnam, 10 months with Company A, 27th Combat Engineers, 28 August 1968 to June 1969, and 16 months as a crewchief/doorgunner with the 240th Assault Helicopter company on UH-1C Hueys, the Mad Dog Gunship Platoon from July 1969 to 22 October 1970.

Joe graduated from Cuyahoga Community College in 1982 with a Associate Of Arts Degree and from Cleveland State University in 1986 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology; he also accumulated 12 hours of graduate work at Cleveland State. He lives with his best friend, his wife, and they have 34 rescued cats, 7 rescued dogs.

Joe has spoken at high schools and colleges for 25 years about PTSD, war and how not to treat returning veterans when they come home to America after fighting for their country.