On Tuesday, October 23 we left Nashville and drove to
Charlotte, N.C. through the most spectacular fall colors in the Great Smoky
Mountains. Driving through those mountains and series of tunnels is something
we won't forget- wow.
Wednesday we met Justin in Charlotte and followed him to a
wonderful spot on Lake Wylie for photos. Justin's service dog is a great
Labradoodle named Coty. I can easily see
why this wonderful breed is so successful as service dogs- they are extremely smart,
loyal and friendly and we just fell in love with Cody. After the photos were
done, we spend several hours sitting at a picnic table overlooking the lake,
talking with Justin.
Justin is a Army Vet
that served one year in Iraq and three months in Afghanistan before returning
to the U.S. wounded. He like many of the Veterans we talked to fought very hard
to stay in but after 6-7 months on "medical hold" was told by a West
Point surgeon that he was out.
After separating from the Army, he moved to Charlotte, N.C.
joining his wife where they had their first child 9 days later. But life with was
very tough. Besides all of his physical wounds, he was battling PTSD. His hyper
vigilance, inability to be in crowds, along with many triggers kept him
housebound. Over the next 2 years he tried counseling many times and many
medications but nothing worked.
Luckily for Justin he talked to another Veteran, Rick, who
had received a service dog. This friend found with the aid of his service dog he
could finally manage his symptoms and was able to get his life back. Justin
applied and was accepted to the same program.
While he was waiting for his service dog training period to arrive, he
volunteered to transport a dog down to K9s For Warriors from Charlotte. This dog had been given up by an owner that had left him horrible shape-
his teeth were black, hair completely matted, and he was suffering from
malnutrition. But someone saw the
potential in this resilient dog so he was screened by the trainers and OK'd for
training due to his aptitude and temperament.
Justin and another Veteran agreed to pick up the dog from
the foster family at a Bass Pro Shop in Charlotte for the trip to Florida. When he arrived, Justin found out that dog
was going to be trained for him. They
met inside the store and when Justin went up to Coty, the dog lifted his paw
and they shook hands! The picture you see here was taken at that very moment. "Cody" and
Justin bonded on the way down to Jacksonville and Coty stayed on to work with
the trainers. Justin and he were reunited months later for their 3 week
training together and graduated from the program on May 24 of 2012.
Life has been completely different since they met. Justin said he laughs more, has his
"emotions" back, and is now able to go out in the world again. But the
best is just the peace of mind that Coty gives him- something we have heard quite often. He said "Coty
has my back" -every veteran understands what that means. Coty also wakes
him from nightmares and alerts him to seizures. Justin's wife told him "It's
good to have you 'home'"- meaning Justin
hadn't been the same person since 2003- not until Coty.
And to Justin- thank you so much - what a great time we had
with you. We are grateful that you took
the time to explain to us what Vets are going through - there was so much we
were unaware of. It was a wonderful day- I know we'll stay in touch.
