Cracker

Rick hugs Cracker goodbye before he leaves to go home before his deployment. Cracker feels unsettled by the intensity of the hug, remembering Willie’s last hug. In the following days, she whines and cries with the other dogs, who all miss their handlers.

At home, Rick feels out of place. His family comments that he is different. The concerns of his peers seem trite. He cleans his room carefully in case he never returns to it.

Cracker knocks Rick over joyously when he returns. The handlers and their dogs board three cargo planes bound for Southeast Asia. From her crate, Cracker can see Rick’s seat on the plane. The plane lands a few times for the dogs to be let out. There is a sense of excitement among the men, and Rick comes back to her crate.

They arrive at Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon. Rick knows that the US Army’s goal is to stop the spread of communism into South Vietnam. To do so, they must engage the Vietcong, communist North Vietnam’s army. This is challenging, as the Vietcong rely on guerilla warfare tactics such as booby traps. The dogs are there to identify these traps.

Rick sees a colorful platform and thinks it must be there to welcome the soldiers, only to realize that it is a pile of