Cracker

Cracker is a German Shepherd dog. As a puppy, she was pampered as a prize-winning show dog, but she was considered unsuitable for competing because of her broken leg. Her owner then gives her to his nephew, Willie, who adores her.

Willie surrenders Cracker to the US Army, and Cracker then is allocated to Rick, who trains her to identify enemy traps, bombs, and soldiers. Cracker is initially vicious toward others and skeptical of Rick, but she grows to trust and adore him and loves working with him. Cracker senses that the work that she and Rick do is important. They become a revered and highly commended team in Vietnam, successfully identifying Vietcong traps and soldiers in the dense jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia and Vietnamese villages.

More than once, Cracker saves Rick from deadly attacks. When they are separated in an ambush, Cracker travels across miles of dangerous jungle and countryside to find Rick again. She is eventually found by American troops, recognized as an American army dog, and is one of the lucky few dogs who is sent back to America. She is reunited with Rick and is overjoyed. Through Cracker, Rick is able to achieve and then transcend his Ambition for Greatness, realizing that Companionship and Loyalty are his true priorities. Cracker embodies the qualities that the novel most values: bravery, devotion, protectiveness, and love.

Willie owns Cracker before Rick. When his family moves to an inner-city apartment for Willie’s father’s job, Willie is forced to surrender his beloved pet. He sees an advertisement in the paper that the US Army is recruiting Labradors and German Shepherds to work in Vietnam and decides that this is the best option for rehoming Cracker. He is devastated to part with Cracker and can hardly bring himself to go through with it; ultimately, Willie is left with little choice as his family’s housing depends on him surrendering his dog.

Willie faithfully writes to Rick about Cracker, revealing his confidence that Cracker will be the best dog in Vietnam and embodying the theme of Companionship and Loyalty. This gives Rick confidence in Cracker’s intelligence and abilities when he is struggling to connect with Cracker. Willie is thrilled to eventually hear back from Rick and have the opportunity to see Cracker one last time at the airport. Rick gives Willie his dog tags in a symbolic gesture of thanks for Willie’s adoration of Cracker and his decision to surrender him to the Army. Willie’s relationship with Cracker establishes the motifs of loyalty and loss for the novel, setting up patterns that will be repeated with Rick and Cracker, Cody and Bruno, and Twenty-Twenty and Tristie.

Cody, a fellow soldier, is an experienced and confident dog handler. Cody is allocated Bruno, whom Rick privately refers to as “the Mr. Universe of dogs” because he is already so well-behaved (45). As a pair, Cody and Bruno immediately excel during training: “Rick saw Cody jerk expertly on Bruno’s leash and say, ‘Heel!’ Bruno heeled perfectly at Cody’s left side” (44). The pair initially operate as a foil to Rick and Cracker, who perform poorly at first at training. Rick privately feels envious and intimidated by their synchronicity and expertise. Eventually, Rick and Cracker learn to understand each other and become as good as Cody and Bruno at working together to identify targets, if not better.

Tragically, Bruno is left with the South Vietnamese Army when the US pulls out of Vietnam. Cody’s distress illustrates the Army’s problematic policy of branding dogs as surplus military equipment to be destroyed or reallocated.

Twenty-Twenty is another fellow soldier. Twenty-Twenty (who later goes by Twenty) and his dog Tristie are the second-best team at the Fort Benning camp, and Rick both admires them and dreams of surpassing them one day. Twenty and Tristie thus catalyze Rick’s character arc and the theme of Ambition for Greatness.

Twenty and Tristie are deployed to Vietnam alongside Rick and Cracker and Cody and Bruno. During a mission gone wrong, Twenty is grievously injured, and Tristie is killed while trying to protect him. Twenty loses one of his arms, but he is more devastated by the loss of Tristie, who died by his side. Rick and Cracker witness Tristie’s death and Twenty’s grief. The experience drives home the horrors of War and Conflict and intensifies the importance of Companionship and Loyalty to Rick. Twenty and Tristie’s story both motivates and reflects Rick’s overall shift from having an ambition for greatness to valuing love and connection above all else.