While Toni Ann Ames was cleaning out her husband’s truck, she left a pile of hunting stuff inside the back door at their Chesapeake Bay, Maryland home. On the next trip in, she found “Liberty,” one of the family’s two Brittanys, curled up and sleeping in it, presumably waiting for her master to come home. Colonel Chuck Ames, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, is currently six weeks into a deployment.
“He truly misses his hunting buddy,” Toni Ann, Chuck’s wife of 27 years, says, “Liberty is driven and strong in the field and still so loyal – he has a heart the size of all the corn fields in Iowa.”
While “Liberty” nestles in Chuck’s pheasant hunting gear, Chuck, who isn’t expected back for months, has his new favorite picture saved as his screensaver. It’s a bond that 7,000 miles and half a world can’t break, and gives new meaning to that old phrase, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Anthony’s Antics Afield is written by Anthony Hauck, Pheasants Forever’s Online Editor. Email Anthony at AHauck@pheasantsforever.organd follow him on Twitter @AnthonyHauckPF.