A persistent dog of the Tatmadaw
The following was written by Htet Myat, a former Tatmadaw soldier who has since defected, and translated by Yuu Tu. The story is made possible from the team behind Breaking Brainwashed.
One day, I received an order stating which day and place to go to the front lines. The next day, a departmental meeting was held under the chairmanship of the battalion commander, assigning responsibilities to those who will be left behind. The exact date was not yet known. But we were told that when the time comes to leave to the front line, a senior army officer will come to inspect the military readiness.
It can be quite daunting knowing that many soldiers were not well equipped to be on the front lines. As it was not the end of the month, there was no salary and no money to buy essential equipment. The battalion commanders had to collect all the necessities from the captain with a list of soldiers and make advance payments. Some soldiers owed a lot of money, so the officers and teachers had to use their own pocket money to buy the necessary items.
In terms of inspection, there are some things that you have to bring with you when you go to the front line of military service. There are personal items as well. At the time of the inspection, everyone was lined up in the compound. Individual items were displayed in front of them, and items for each squad were displayed at a certain place and thoroughly inspected. In the past, there were high-ranking officers who said as long as you have guns and ammunition everything is fine. But there are also high-ranking officers inspecting everything from cotton swabs (to clean ear wax) to nail cutters!
I am not sure why some soldiers are not afraid to go to the front lines, yet they are scared to death to be inspected! On the day of inspection, they run away and could not be found, or they pay somebody to line up on their behalf. When the inspector had gone, such trouble makers came back to the base. As soon as they returned, they were locked into a cell by the battalion commander. The next morning, they all were taken out of the cell, pulled out of the car, and taken directly to the front line. As we were 2nd Operational Squad, we were assigned to operate in the front line as well. The 1st Operational Squad had to stay at the base.
There was a mine detection dog called “Nyo Gyi” who came with us to the front line. This is the second time he was tasked to go here. He is a very talented dog! He picks up whatever he thinks is edible on the street and brings it to his master. Sometimes, he would pick up a pair of old shoes and a can of milk, a can of fish, etc. He thought he could eat it because it smelled like food! When we first set up a camp, his master’s tent was full of supplies that he had brought with him from nearby.
One day, the commander said, “Now we have to go to a place where there are a lot of mines. Wherever you look, there may be mines. All officers and teachers need to guide the troops not do anything unnecessarily. Report if anything you see strange. It would be better to die in a clash than to be hit by a landmine. So beware of mines everywhere.”
At the time we arrived at the lunch stop, a soldier was hit by a mine. “Oh no!” the commander exclaimed as soon as he heard the sound of a landmine exploding, “Go and see who is there!” he shouted. When we went to the scene of the explosion, we found that the lower right ankle of Private Aung Naing Moe of squad 1 had fallen off and he fell on the ground. Suddenly, upon looking at his severed leg near him, he was shocked. He couldn’t even shout. The paramedic carefully cut off the ankle. When the ligaments and tendons were cut, he was moaning and groaning. Blood vessels are knotted. Once cutting is done, the medic bandaged it well.
Details of the incident were reported back to officers and seniors at the base. An order came for the patient to be taken to nearest camp for better treatment. We were told to wait until the escorts returned. Checking the time, the commander ordered us to stay overnight at the current location, thinking that the goal could not be achieved on that day.
So the group started to clear the mines around the area and set up makeshift tents to spend the night there. We took our allotted responsibilities: some to guard and some to cook. We chose to cook cans of beef that night. By the time dinner was ready, except for the guards, the rest of the group were getting ready to eat.
Soldier Aung Naing Moe’s case is not over yet. His amputated ankle was buried by a paramedic far from the base. But unfortunately, our faithful dog Nyo Gyi went to dig it up. I think it smelled tempting for him. Then he picked it up with a large pile of sand and dust and came back to his master. But at that moment, his master had just sat down to eat with us. Suddenly I saw a big brown object, but no one knew what it was. It looked like pork stew, or a beef steak. When they heard “bote” as the Nyo Gyi put it down to the nose of his master, we saw little feet and toes and came to realize that it was a broken leg of Private Aung Naing Moe.
“Nyo Gyi … you are too bad! You dare to do this in the right time! Oh No! You mess up our dinner! Too disgusting for me!” So much swearing followed! I was there to see them and to smile. Not understanding what was happening at all, Nyo Gyi simply stared us. It seemed he was thinking that they all thanked me for bringing the food in time.
“Oh Nyo Gyi … ‘’
Finally, I enjoyed beef with rice till I was so full together with Nyo Gyi. I was really full that night. Usually, food is scarce at the front line, but this time, I was able to enjoy cans of beef with the help of Nyo Gyi.