Where did you serve and what did you do?
I served for 9 years as an Infantryman with the Wolfhounds, 1/27 25th ID, deploying twice to Iraq. Later I also commissioned as an Army Chaplain and served state side in various Infantry Brigades.
Tell us how your dog is helping you continue #StillServing in your community.
I trained my own service dog, Lady Mary Birddog who is a 1 1/2 year old Black Labrador. My intention was just to have a buddy to travel with as my role as a defense contractor had me traveling alone a lot as did my outdoor pursuits and all of that alone time didn’t work well with my PTSD symptoms. Along the way of training her and taking her into public more and more, folks started stopping me to ask questions about the way I was training her and or if I would train their dog and I made the decision that I would love to help other veterans train their own service dogs and or train one for them. Every time we are out and that is at least once a day, we end up talking with someone in our community who thinks they might want a service animal and we coach them through the benefits and the responsibilities that come with having a service animal. The attached picture is of us completing the 2023 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands… she loved all 26.2 miles of it and brought smiles to a lot of faces along the way… people couldn’t believe she could go that far but the the really unbelievable thing was that I was completing it with all my injuries and that is because my sweet girl was with me and encouraging me all the way.
Why do you do it?
I just wanted to help and I offer my services without charge, something like a continuation of my ministry as a Chaplain. But the reason I did it was because I saw how having my sweet Labrador in places where you don’t normally see them (grocery stores, doctors offices, ect.) not only helped me with my anxiety but also brought countless smiles to random strangers and has started countless conversations… and most people just need someone to talk to and some random reason to start talking… especially veterans trying to cope on their own.