
[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.
It was at that point that we kept walking back towards the farms.
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.
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