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Many thanks to the sheepdogs

  • Published
  • By Col. (ret.) Randy Harvey
  • Former 305th Maintenance Group commander
McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  My favorite day of the week is Friday. Not because the weekend will follow, but because what I see confirms what a great country we live in and how important what each and every one of us associated with the Armed Services do for our country.

One of the enjoyable results of running with the 305th Maintenance Group on Friday mornings at 7 a.m. is that as I go home to shower, the younger kids in base housing are walking to school. I can't tell you how much joy it gives me to see the kids smiling and carrying on conversations with each other. I have no idea what they talk about, but I see their faces and see joy. They walk to school, and it seems the only challenge they face is waiting for the crossing guard to stop the traffic. Parents who walked with them at the start of the school year are a rare sight - there is little fear of child abduction because our 305th Security Forces Squadron defenders stand at the housing gate.

When I was stationed at Travis AFB, Calif., I was a member of something similar to a parent- teacher association. I recall listening to parents whose kids attended school outside the base. They spoke of drug dealers selling drugs just off the playground. They spoke of how they were afraid to let their kids walk to school. Sept. 11 was 11 years from happening, and I was not concerned with terrorists, but I remember thinking how great it was that we didn't have the problem at the base schools as those outside the gates did because we had security forces troops standing at the gates.

I've heard various speakers chat about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs and recall a great article by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman on the subject. How the sheepdogs help protect the defenseless sheep from wolves and how the military is like the sheepdogs, protecting all of us from the wolves that seek to do us harm.

Wolves come in a wide-range of types, from perverts and drug dealers to radical Islamic fundamentalists. From security forces defenders standing at the gate to Airmen pulling convoy duty in Iraq - the sheep are being protected from the wolves. The sheep we protect may not truly appreciate the protection being given, but I can't tell you how much joy it gives me to see the faces of the innocents walking to school in the morning without a care in the world - simply because the sheepdogs keep the wolves at bay.

It has been a pleasure serving this great nation of ours for more than 28 years. I know and appreciate the fact, that as Jayne and I retire from active duty and relax on the porch of our South Carolina home that we are being protected from those who would do us harm. Many thanks to the sheepdogs of the world.