In 1958 Charlie married Sasha and became David's pet. After ten years of being a family dog, Charlie and his owner David had joined the army to fight in Vietnam. David was now eighteen.

Upon arrival in Da Nang, South Vietnam, David and Charlie saw dead soldiers in body bags being loaded into a plane, but more distressing to them was a shell-shocked state of a departing soldier with the "thousand-yard stare." David, Charlie and several other replacements were assigned to Bravo Company, 25th Infantry division.

That night David and Charlie sat outside their base thinking about home. "Charlie, do you think that we'll see some action tonight?" asked David cheeking his M16 rifle.

"Hey, David, just because you heard someone say that the Viet Cong might attack doesn't mean it will happen," replied Charlie as he licked his owner's hand.

Fireworks started going off because the Tet holiday started. Charlie wanted David to relax and enjoy himself. "It's a holiday, David," said Charlie, as he watched the sky. "Every zipper head in Nam will be visiting their dead family, banging gongs and eating fish heads and rice."

David felt that Charlie was right so he went inside his tent and joined his fellow soldiers. Their names were Dillon, Benny, and Chris.

"Where are my Playboys?" asked Dillon, as David fell on his cot in relief.

"Sorry, Dillon," replied Benny, as he sat down on his cot. "The last I saw them is when we were heading out on our last combat assault. I think your little brother has them."

Chris did have his brother's Playboys. "Dillon, how can you read this shit?" asked the young soldier as he threw the magazines at his brother's feet and opened a can of soda.

"None of your business, Chris!" growled Dillon, as he picked up his magazines.

Benny just smiled at the guys as he read a letter from his mother. He was about to become a big brother. "Hey guys, come here." he said with a big laugh.

The solders gathered around Benny. They saw that he was going to have a brother or a sister in two weeks. David patted the soldier on the back. "I'm sure that the child will turn out fine and you'll be a good brother." he said with smile of joy.

Just then Charlie started to growl. David could tell that something was wrong. He grabbed his rifle and ran out of the tent with his friends behind him. The camp was overrun by hundreds of North Vietnamese troops in just a few minutes.

David and Benny jumped into a foxhole. "Make every shot count!" a captain shouted, firing his rifle at anything that moved. He didn't last long because of the overwhelming gunfire from the NVA.

Dillon was in the command bunker calling for helicopters support, but it was destroyed by a NVA suicide bomber.

David kept firing, but in the corner of his eye he saw an NVA soldier with what looked like to be a RPG. David grabbed Benny and both of them jumped out of the foxhole seconds before it was hit by the RPG. David and Benny then attacked and kill several enemy soldiers. A NVA came up behind the two, but Charlie jumped the enemy soldier and killed him by biting his neck.

"That's my dog!" shouted David as he fired at the NVA.

Benny killed two NVA soldiers and David ran away to join his dog, distracting Benny, who then got shot in the stomach and head by an NVA soldier. David saw Charlie get stabbed in his back with a bayonet by another NVA soldier.

"Leave my dog alone!" David yelled as he shot the soldier dead. Charlie was hurt bad, but he was still alive.

Just then David and Charlie saw American helicopters in the air, but also Dillon emerge from the bunker, running from a large group of NVA soldiers. He died after being shot several times by the NVA while American helicopters attempt to provide him cover overhead.

The helicopters forced the NVA to retreat. Later that morning David, Charlie and Chris watched with shell-shocked faces as their dead friends were taken away.

A captain named Tom Hill addressed all the surviving soldiers.

"The Viet Cong has hit every major military target in Vietnam, and hit'em hard. In Saigon, the United States Embassy has been overrun by suicide squads. Khe Sahn is standing by to be overrun." he explained as the soldier talked among themselves.

"We also have reports that a division of NVA has occupied all of the city of Hue south of the Perfume River. In strategic terms, Charlie's cut the country in half... the civilian press are about to wet their pants and we've heard even Cronkite's going to say the war is now not winnable. In other words, it's a huge shit sandwich, and we're all gonna have to take a bite." added Hill as he approached David and Charlie.

"Son, I saw what your dog did to that enemy soldier last night and I want to say that I never have met a dog as brave as this one," the captain said, as he patted Charlie on the head.

David was touched by his captain's words. "Thank you, Captain," he said and gave Hill a salute. "When I was eight, Charlie came to me and protected me," he explained as he rubbed Charlie's head.

Hill then turned to all the men. "Men! Tomorrow we move out against the NVA in the city of Hue and take it from them! So get some rest because we'll have a busy day ahead of us."

That night David wrote to his family and explained that despite being "in a world of chaos," he and Charlie are glad to be alive and no longer afraid.

Chris sat next to him. "I thought Benny would make home," he said sadly.

David looked at him sadly. "If I had not left to help my Charlie then Benny would still be alive."

"You made a judgment call, David." said Chris. "If my best friend was in danger I would have done the same, but Benny died for his country and his family."

That made David fell a little better. So he and Charlie made a deal to never leave a friend alone again.