Chapter: 4
Charlie the Wonder Dog
Charlie more than deserved a break from everything. Charlie herself was awarded three Lois Pope K-9 Medal of Courage. She actually earned two of them in one tour of duty. That tour was Renee's fourth tour of duty.
The first was when Charlie and Renee were pinned down with some other Marines. Their position was under fire by some insurgents. The bullets were coming from a covered position down at the group of Marines. James was among the other Marines, but he was not able to get a lead on the terrorists who were shooting at the group.
Renee had given Charlie the command to return to base to bring reinforcements. Partway to base, the canine turned around. Seeing her partner in danger, the canine flanked the insurgents. Diving into the gun turret, the canine attacked the shooters.
Charlie was wearing her bulletproof vest but was stabbed repeatedly through the vest. Ignoring her stab wounds, she took out two terrorists. A third terrorist jumps out of the turret in an attempt to escape the canine.
From Renee's position, she had a clear shot of the terrorist. She was the only one with a clear shot, so she took it. The terrorist dropped dead, and the air was silent. Renee was shot three times by the shooter before she was able to take the shot that killed the terrorist.
James and the rest of the surviving Marines investigated the gun turret and found Charlie lying there seriously injured with several deep stab wounds. Renee and Charlie were both carried back to base by the Marines.
The second time the canine earned the Lois Pope Medal of Courage was also during their fourth deployment.
This time Renee was also awarded a Bronze Star for her bravery. Late one night, Charlie was awakened by a noise. Renee didn't hear the initial noise. She just saw Charlie's reaction to the noise.
Renee trusted the canine, so she grabbed her service pistol and opened the door to her room. The canine darted out before Renee could grab the collar.
Into the darkness, the canine charged. Armed with nothing but a Sig Sauer and a flashlight, Renee raced into the darkness to help her partner. It didn't take too long for Renee to find Charlie with a suicide bomber in her mouth. The two of them just had to get the bomber away from the barracks.
He was close enough to take out the whole barracks. Over a hundred soldiers were sleeping inside. Renee grabbed the bomber from behind him, and Charlie had the hand with the dead mans switch in it. With the canine's mouth around the hand, the bomber was unable to open it.
The two were able to get the bomber far enough from the barracks. The other soldiers were safe if the bomb went off.
Renee ordered Charlie to release and get back, but the canine refused. Together the two war seasoned Marines push the bomber hard getting him as far as they could so that Renee can shot him before he blew himself up.
Renee and Charlie needed to dive for cover before the bomb went off. When it goes off, the two were seriously injured with a lot of shrapnel.
Their teamwork and bond with each other worked wonders. Their bravery and courage had saved a lot of soldiers that night. James O'Shea was in the barracks sleeping.
Immediately following the explosion James and the rest of the sleeping soldiers rush out to see what happened. James was the first to find Renee and Charlie. Renee was unconscious with shrapnel in her head and chest. Charlie had dragged herself over to Renee and put her body between her partner and the bomber's body.
Renee barely survived and had shrapnel left in her skull. It was more dangerous to remove the shrapnel then to just leave it in. Eventually, the surgeons removed the shrapnel when Renee had been beaten in Miami six months earlier. Charlie had some shrapnel in her chest, but she was also still wearing her bulletproof vest at the time, so she was not as seriously injured as her partner.
As far as Renee was concerned, Charlie was the real hero, not her. The rest of the base and its commanding officers were of the opposite side, and they all thought Renee deserved the Bronze Star along with Charlie deserving the Lois Pope K-9 Medal of Courage for her action on both occasions.
She had contacted Echo's breeder about getting a puppy to teach Forensic evidence detection too. The breeder contacted Renee and told her that the puppy was ready to go home.
Renee could have the pup flown over, but she had a few people that she wanted to visit in both her home town and at the Marine base near New Orleans that she was stationed at.
The road trip with her brother was going smoothly until they had just about arrived at their destination.