[Targan]

Okay well here is my theory.

I think I have described before the circmstances under which Tech Sgt Latoya Martinez, USAF came to join Major Po's merry band. When he and his unit reached Bremerhaven Po managed to convince the US military brass to hold an all-services martial arts tournament to provide entertainment to the tens of thousands of US personnel waiting in Bremerhaven with some entertainment.

Po is a highly skilled practitioner of Wing Chun (had been training since he was a child). He organised the tournament in a series of elimination bouts in three classes, lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight. The tournament was held in a soccer stadium and it was a more than full house. Of course as he and his men had access to "The Blanket" they were able to recover fully from their injuries after each bout so it ended up that Po fought in the grand final in the lightweight division, Gunny Lamont (the godlike USMC veteran based on Thomas Highway from "Heartbreak Ridge") in the middleweight and my brother's PC Cpl Urana Ratowi, USMC (a 6'5", 230lb American Samoan) in the heavyweight group.

Po's grand final opponent was Martinez who was a mighty fine brawler because she came from a big Mexican-American family from LA with six older brothers. Martinez's USAF buddies had been secretly giving her PCP before each bout (unbeknownst to her) and they gave her a big dose for the bout with Po (and bet huge sums on her winning). Martinez ended up going berserk in the ring and beat the crap out of Po. When he regained consciousness he ordered that she be brought into his group, and I now think that may have been to keep an eye on her.

Po treats Martinez pretty well but deep down I think he is still scared of her and denying her a military dog might be his way of punishing her on an ongoing basis for beating him.

As an aside the grand finals of the tournament ended with a huge riot. I've actually written a short story about the day of the tournament.