On the way home after our last stop in Albuquerque we had a
chance to think back on all the wonderful people we met the past several weeks
on the road.
The most important point we want to make is to the people that
might question if service dogs really
make a difference for Veterans with PTSD and TBI. Based on all we heard and the men and women
we met, the answer is a resounding "YES". Not only do these service dogs change their
lives - they also save lives. We
met several Veterans that talked about thoughts or attempts of suicide in their
past. One Veteran thought about it daily during a long period in
his life when he was totally housebound.
Then he was paired with his service dog and is finally able to navigate
his way back into the public. Another Veteran survived his suicide attempt and after
much work on his part along with counseling finally was in the position to care
for a dog. This service dog enabled him to get out of seclusion and join the
world again -now leading a very positive life.
After meeting our first two veterans in Louisville, Paul and
I looked at each other and commented "It
can't possibly get any better than those two guys!" Every Veteran we met with was outstanding. They were all so polite, well spoken, and
above all extremely patriotic . After hearing
about what each of them had gone
through, you could have expected some bitterness. But instead we found men and women that would
do it all again, some who fought to stay in the military, stay with their units
and did not want to end their service. We also found it so interesting that a high
percentage are currently doing some type of advocacy for fellow veterans or
want to go into some kind of work or service in the future to improve the lives
of veterans.
We were so honored to have met each one of them. Believe me, if these Veterans were examples
of today's soldiers, we are all in good hands. But the culture in the military doesn't allow
them to complain and they don't. They
hide their symptoms as they just try to get through each day- losing spouses,
jobs, families and hope. We only wish these Veterans weren't left
having to figure out how to survive with such horrible disorders. We owe them so much more. Some had been housebound for years before
having a buddy or relative or counselor finally suggest a service dog
organization. We thought about all the
time they had lost and kept thinking about the thousands of other "wounded
warriors" out there trying to get through each day unaware that a dog
could be an option. These young men
were the ages of our sons. They had all
gone through counseling, dozens of medications only to find nothing
changed.
How absolutely amazing that
these four legged miracles came into their lives. The interesting thing was that according to
the organizations we spoke with, the lives of these veterans begin to change
dramatically the day they were introduced to their new service dog. Some found that their dogs woke them from
nightmares on the first night in training. Dogs are absolutely amazing and what they are capable of is unbelievable.
