[you can read part 1 here]

THE NEXT DAY

Knowing we had been spotted the previous day by the Little Green Men & that our near perfect shut-out score was in jeopardy, the next day Maggie & I decided to take the long, long way around the woods.

We’d walk down the dividing yet fair game road that runs behind the Lumber Barons, past our little neighborhood monks, past our normal turn & keep going down towards the other farmers. From there there’s bound to be a turn back towards the far road so we could keep walking undetected.

That was the plan at least.

As we headed towards the back farms I kept my eyes open – looking all around for any Little Green Men playing their field games.

Their tents were still up, trucks still parked hap-hazard and Maggie could still smell them.

They were bound to be here…somewhere. But I was really hoping that they weren’t this far down.

Fudge. There….Do you see it?….Someone must be there!

No?…You don’t see it?…

Ok, how ’bout now?

That would be an excellent sniper nest if it wasn’t so obviously a sniper nest.

But was anybody in there?

Nope. Empty.

Hmm…maybe they weren’t out this far after all. Maybe they played in this area earlier & had moved on somewhere else.

I just couldn’t see anyone.

It was at that point Maggie came to a dead stop.

Crap. They are here. But where? What is she looking at?

Ahhh….an IED.

Well, a fake one anyway….and a poorly planted one, at that. Can you see it? It’s right there!

See?…Looks like two coke bottles taped up.

That would be a pretend IED for their field games. But where are the Little Green Men? There’s no one anywhere back here.

Hmm…they must’ve forgotten that one when they moved on.

Halfway up the road Maggie stopped again.

I scanned everywhere…nothing….no one….

Then I heard it. The faint rustling of leaves coming from just the other side of the hill.

We waited & waited…looking to see who it was walking up the other side. Remembering that there’s an older Korean man we’ve seen & passed a few times back on this road I guessed it must be him.

Then we saw him. A Korean man dressed in a black jogging suit – it was him….or so I thought.

As we kept walking what hit me first was that he was wearing a camo green fleece hat….the same camo green fleece hat the Little Green Men wear when it gets cold.

Fudge. This wasn’t our little Korean man, this was a KATUSA.

KATUSA – Korean Augmentation to the US Army: (ka-too-sah) Koreans serving their mandatory military service as part of the US Army.

He was a good 50 feet away & began talking to us…asking if we were walking these woods.

Maggie suddenly began to panic. She didn’t know this guy & I’m sure she picked up on my trepidation for getting caught again.

She started to back up & back up….pulling on the leash….tugging to get out of her collar.

If I didn’t stop this guy soon, Maggie would get loose & then we’d really be in trouble.

So what did I do?….I did what every responsible dog owner does.

I held up my hand & in a clear, but calm & direct voice said,

“I need you to stop right there.”

Simple, right? A woman with a big ass dog is asking you to stop.

He had no clue if my dog was going to swallow him whole & spit out his spindly bones or if she was going to bolt like the chicken she is & run the opposite way.

So what did he do?…

He kept walking towards us.

In my urgency to get this guy to just stop & stand still I let my focus shift from Maggie to him.

That’s all it took – a split second of being completely frustrated with this little Korean man who obviously spoke English yet chose to ignore it & me…and Maggie was out of her collar & running sideways positioning herself between me & him.

Oh sure, he stopped then. Dead in his tracks & looking completely petrified.

It was then that I spotted the soldier holding the rifle.

He had walked up behind the KATUSA, saw me, saw Maggie loose and was trying to figure out what was going on.

Maggie decided, ‘Screw this! I’m free & I’m gonna run!’

And she did.

She ran back & forth, up & down. Past me. Past the KATUSA. Past the soldier. Then back again. Over & over again.

It was a nightmare.

[keep reading]

[but first, the back story]

Because Maggie’s so shy she’s highly in-tune with her surroundings – it’s almost autistic, really.

She can spot the slightest difference from over 50 feet away.

She’ll stop cold turkey, fully alert, ears-up, face wrinkled, chest puffed up & up on her tip-toes to look bigger…staring right in the direction of the difference.

We joke around that she’s our IED dog….and that if the Army ever finds out about her they’ll probably ship her butt off to Iraq.

IED – Improvised Explosive Device: And if you don’t know the term by now, what rock have you been living under for the past 6 years? I’d like to join you.

[moving on]

The Little Green Men are in our woods again.

They were actually there last week as well, but they had packed-up & gone home for the weekend.

So I was disappointed to see they’d come back yesterday.

Maggie & I have walked these woods every day for the past 6 months – rain or shine.

And for almost every day for all of those 6 months the woods have been our’s.

But when the Little Green Men do come they usually stick to the center of the small wooded area so Maggie & I skirt the outside so as not to disturb them.

Over the months it’s kinda become a game…how many times can we walk the perimeter of their ‘field games’ without being spotted.

And before yesterday, the score was Me & Moo 12, Little Green Men 1.

But now they’ve started gaining on us.

YESTERDAY

They were back with their toy trucks, tents all set-up and the generators were running to keep them warm.

So we took the long way around…down the outside road past our little neighborhood Buddhist temple & up the curve to head back around the far outside. It’s the only road that gets you to the temple & to a few of the apartment buildings – so it’s not like it’s 100% Army-owned. So I’ve always considered it fair ground when they camp out.

But we spotted them first.

One…then two…standing up along the trees but far enough apart to tell they were playing some sort of field game.

Since they were at the far end of the center area, I whispered to Maggie that we needed to be quiet. I just wanted to sneak past them, without notice, and head back home.

As we made our way around the curve, Maggie spotted another.

He was belly-down holding a sniper rifle & covered in leaves & he hadn’t spotted me or Maggie yet.

She stopped dead in her tracks & puffed-up like a blow fish.

And then he spotted us.

You’ve never seen eyes get so wide…it was hard not to laugh.

I used our code word for Maggie – “Friend” – and she settled down a bit.

The sniper & I smiled at each other without saying a word and Maggie & I continued on.

Me & Moo 12, Little Green Men 2.

[keep reading]