Where did you serve and what did you do?

USAF, 1966-1971 Avionics and photo maintenance for the 56th Spec Ops Grp Nakhon Phenom Thailand Stateside 456th Bomb Wng Beale AFB CA

Tell us how your dog is helping you continue Still Serving in your community.

Injured and put out of work in 2006, I was introduced to service dogs by my therapist. Already a dog trainer I retrained my search and rescue dog for mobility assistance. I got my second dog Dec 2009 and trained him to be PTSD, medical alert and mobility assistance. Friends asked me to help train their service dogs and I fell into it. Went back to college and received a degree in canine studies.

Why do you do it?

My dog Djinn (silent ‘D’) helped me over come deep PTSTD and ADD/HD problems. Having an autistic grand child, for whom I trained a dog, and meeting many veterans with the same challenges and who wanted service dogs but could not afford them, I started training vets to be owners and handlers. Like many of them I live below the poverty level. My training is free because many of my students cannot afford the training.