Army

Sep 20, 2010

“I’m So Proud Of That American Flag… That’s Why I Was Serving My Country.”

Al , , , , , , Service Dogs

“I’m So Proud Of That American Flag… That’s Why I Was Serving My Country.”

CBS broadcast a PGA special called “Playing With A Purpose” last month about the charity efforts some of the top professional golfers are involved in.

The first segment featured Phil Mickelson and his involvement with Homes For Our Troops and was all about my friends Matt and Tracy Keil who live out here in Parker, Colorado. I’ve written about Matt before – he was shot in the neck by a sniper in Ramadi in 2007, is paralyzed from the chest down other than a little movement in his left arm, and has a Canine Companions for Independence service dog, Gus (who, coincidentally, was raised in the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington, Colorado).

Video of that segment is now on YouTube.  CCI isn’t mentioned in it, but Gus is very visible. Pretty emotional, too – Matt and Tracy have done a lot of very public things like this, but this is the best one I’ve seen. Just tremendous.

Aug 6, 2010

Pets For Patriots – What A Great Idea

Al , , , , , Service Dogs, Veterans

I had a great conversation yesterday with Beth Zimmerman, the founder, Executive Director, and CEO of Pets for Patriots.

You definitely need to read their site and blog for the details of how they’re going to make this happen – it’s a good plan – but here’s their stated mission:

“Pets for Patriots’ vision is to end animal homelessness by supporting the permanent placement of adult dogs and cats with every available, able, and willing military family in the U.S.”

Great concept in general, but what really caught my eye was Beth’s post (“Pets for Patriots launches new program with the U.S. Army“) a few days ago about visiting the Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) office recently here at Ft Carson, and specifically this sentence:

“Wounded soldiers who don’t qualify for a service animal – but would benefit from a new pet friend – will be referred to us.”

Exactly!  This is another outstanding example of a key concept I wrote about last November after reading about the Washington DC Humane Society’s Dog Tags program where troops rehabbing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center train dogs in basic obedience so they have a greater chance of being adopted. Please go read that post in its entirety (it’s not long) – everything I said there is still true today (in fact, even more so) and I’d just have to repost the whole thing here: “Every Veteran With A Disability Doesn’t Need A Service Dog, And This Is A Great Alternative“

No question in my mind that dogs have an important role to play with helping our wounded warriors recover, just not necessarily SERVICE dogs, something so many seem to assume.

We absolutely have to look at the ENTIRE range of options when we’re talking about dogs helping veterans, especially where post-traumatic stress is involved. Things like veterans training dogs in shelters so they have a better chance to be adopted, or adopting great pets, or working with a therapist who has a Canine Companions for Independence Facility Dog, or raising dogs that will eventually be service dogs for someone else (with the caveat that those dogs receive advanced training from a professional trainer), and so on.

Let’s be very clear – Beth is coming at things from a different and broader angle than I am, but Pets for Patriots is also a perfect fit for what I’m looking to accomplish and gives me one more very valuable option to offer people. I very much look forward to working with her as she expands this program both locally here in Colorado Springs and around the country as well.

Jun 3, 2010

OIF Veteran And Canine Companions For Independence Graduate Matt Keil Talks About ‘Homes For Our Troops’

Al , , , , , , Service Dogs

KDVR Channel 31 in Denver just did a great news story a coupla days ago with Canine Companions for Independence graduate Matt Keil and his wife Tracy promoting a wonderful organization, Homes For Our Troops, who built their beautiful house.  Matt’s CCI Service Dog Gus, who was raised in the prison program at the Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colorado, makes a brief working appearance in the video, too.

As Matt explains in the video, he’s a wounded warrior who was paralyzed with the exception of his left arm by a sniper’s bullet near Ramadi, Iraq on February 24, 2007.  You can read more details about that in a number of places, including here: “After Surviving Sniper’s Bullet, Soldier Looks to Future”

Matt and Tracy have been super representatives for wounded warriors and their families in general and a number of organizations as well, including CCI, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Homes For Our Troops – pretty much anything they are involved with.

This is another placement that I’d describe exactly the same way I did Andrew Pike’s (Andrew and Matt are good friends, BTW) back  late last year:

“Every Service Dog Placement With A Veteran Should Be As Great As This One”

May 6, 2010

Canine Companions for Independence Grad In New National MS Society Video

Al , , Service Dogs

If you watch this tremendous new National Multiple Sclerosis Society video about Canine Companions for Independence grad Buddy Hayes, you’ll see why those of us who know her like her so much – it’s pretty hard not to. (Not to mention her service dog Ellie, who is just wonderful.)

ZD YouTube FLV Player

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/we-keep-moving/videos/santa-fe-new-mexico-video/index.aspx

Dec 15, 2009

Wounded Warriors On Ice

Al , , , , Veterans

Saw this USA Hockey Magazine story about the USA Warriors Ice Hockey Program via the Walter Reed Army Medical Center fan page on Facebook yesterday – talk about motivational! (Not to mention probably the coolest hockey story I’ve ever seen.)


“I’m probably the only person you’ll ever meet who opted to have their leg amputated so they could play hockey, and that was my whole goal. I spent two and a half years at Walter Reed, and everyone there knew that my first goal in life was to get back on the ice.”  – SFC Joe Bowser

Read the whole thing here: “The Warriors Way”

Dec 1, 2009

Every Service Dog Placement With A Veteran Should Be As Great As This One

Al , , , , , , Service Dogs

I said I was gonna stay positive and show you examples of how things should be rather than ones where I know they are not, and this story is a great start.

When you see someone talking about service dogs for veterans, I want the image of this team to immediately pop into your head, because this is the model, on both ends of the leash.  Beyond just being a great story on its face, as you read it, compare what you see here – and, just as importantly, don’t see – with some of the other very visible “service dogs for veterans” stories of late.

Andrew Pike is a young Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran from Idaho who was paralyzed below the waist by a sniper in Palaji, Iraq on March 26, 2007.  He graduated with Service Dog Yazmin from Team Training at the Canine Companions for Independence Northwest Regional Center in Santa Rosa, CA on November 21st.

You can read all about them here:

“A wounded vet and black lab become partners”

Please watch the following two videos which will tell you even more. (Guess it’s not my day for embedding videos since I couldn’t get either one to do it, which is very odd.)  First one was taken during Team Training; second one was filmed after they returned home to Idaho.

“Iraq War Vet gets service dog from CCI”

“Andrew Pike: New life after the war“

You can make your own list, of course, but here’s just a few things I’m hoping you noted and will file away for comparison:

  • Very calm dog under all circumstances – no evidence of stress, such as panting or pawing at her human partner.
  • Dog under control by the human at all times, and that means a leash – shoot, Andrew even held onto the leash when Yazmin was at home – now THAT’s control.
  • Dog actually performing physical tasks for the veteran, e.g., opening doors.
  • Calm, stable, grounded veteran discussing his future in very positive terms.

I know there are more, but you get the idea.

Not really much I can add other than to say Andrew is a wonderful example to me of someone being positive under far tougher circumstances than I hope I ever have to deal with, and a great reminder of why those of us involved with CCI do what we do.

You can read lots more below:

Nov 19, 2009

Every Veteran With A Disability Doesn’t Need A Service Dog, And This Is A Great Alternative

Al , , , , , Service Dogs

Just read about this great program for veterans recovering at Walter Reed that teaches them to train dogs at the Washington Humane Society. I’ve heard of other programs like this before, but not this specific one, and I think they’re tremendous.  Note particularly what the people involved say about the program:

Army Capt. Lawrence Minnis sits with his two adopted pit bulls at the Washington Humane Society’s Behavior and Learning Center, Nov. 12, 2009.Army Capt. Lawrence Minnis sits with his two adopted pit bulls at the Washington Humane Society’s Behavior and Learning Center.

“Homeless Dogs Help Healing Troops”

The reality is a service dog isn’t necessary or appropriate for every wounded veteran (or anyone with a disability, for that matter) – not the popular thing to say, but the truth. So much of the popular public opinion I see now comes off as “Hey, let’s just give every wounded veteran a service dog and that’ll fix things”, especially when we’re talking about mental health issues like post-traumatic stress as opposed to physical injuries.  Well-intentioned, no doubt, but misguided, nonetheless – it’s just not that simple nor necessarily the way to go.

There are a myriad of factors involved in providing someone with a no-joke, for-real, fully functioning service dog, and, done right, it’s a time-consuming, extremely thorough, and usually expensive process that requires a lifetime commitment from everyone involved. Programs like this one are great because they provide troops who don’t have a more serious need with so much of what they do need, cost very little, if anything, and all of the factors specifically associated with a service dog are taken away.  They also have the potential to not divert a lot of funding and effort away from areas where, in my view, they are better expended, e.g., the training of full-up service dogs for those people who have physical injuries as their primary issue.

No question whatsoever that there are still many veterans who really need and would benefit from a service dog, and I remain convinced that we still aren’t reaching those with severe physical disabilities, particularly the relatively younger group of OEF/OIF veterans. But I’m also convinced there are a whole lotta people that don’t need that level of support, and we need to be talking about these kind of programs first before making the big jump to right away talking about service dogs for everybody.

Oct 4, 2009

Military Working Dog Makes Historic Tandem Parachute Jump

Al , Working Dogs

I saw a brief newspaper article about this jump a few weeks ago with a small picture and figured it was just a matter of time before we’d see the usual hi-res official Army photos.  Well, sure enough, they’re out (click on them for the giant versions):

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Chris Lalonde, center, holds his military working dog, Sgt. Maj. Fosco, and jumpmaster Kirby Rodriguez behind them, as they free fall through the air making history with the military’s first tandem airborne jump from an altitude of 12,500 feet on Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Sept. 18, 2009. Lalonde is assigned to Company D, 701st Military Police Battalion, and Rodriguez is assigned to the 342nd Training Squadron. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Vince Vander Maarel

U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Chris Lalonde, center, holds his military working dog, Sgt. Maj. Fosco, and jumpmaster Kirby Rodriguez behind them, as they free fall through the air making history with the military’s first tandem airborne jump from an altitude of 12,500 feet on Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Sept. 18, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Vince Vander Maarel

Lest those folks up the road from me in Denver, the American Humane Association (the “no animals were harmed in the making of this film” people), get nervous, check out the photo and video of what Fosco was doing right after they landed:

“Dog parachutes as part of Ft. Leonard Wood competition”

How cool is that??!!??

Complete photo essay is here:

http://www.defenselink.mil/photoessays/photoessaySS.aspx?id=1433

Sep 3, 2009

“Seventy-pound Labrador retrievers take up half the bed.”

Al , Working Dogs

I cracked up when I read that in this story today about military working dogs at Joint Base Balad in Iraq:

“MWDs ‘out of the doghouse’ at JBB”

U.S. Army Specialist Chris Belville, 25th Infantry Division dog handler, spends time with his canine, Cookie, in his living quarters here Aug. 28.

It doesn’t surprise me – I know enough handlers to know how they are about their dogs, and the stories over the years about them sleeping with the dogs, usually under hostile conditions in the field, are legion.

But there’s just something about the image of a big Lab out there taking over a bed just like they do everywhere.

Not that that would ever happen around here, of course.

Aug 8, 2009

MRE For An MWD: Meal, Ready-To-Eat For A Military Working Dog

Al , Working Dogs

1st Lt. John Reed, a Milton, Del., native and platoon leader with 15th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, attempts to evade Capka, a military working dog, during a demonstration at Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq, Aug. 1.
1st Lt. John Reed, a Milton, Del., native and platoon leader with 15th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, attempts to evade Capka, a military working dog, during a demonstration at Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq, Aug. 1.  (Click on photo for larger version)

There are military working dog articles on the military websites (e.g., Defenselink.mil, Army.mil, AF.mil) all the time with a lotta great pictures – this one just struck me as funny.

If you read the accompanying article, you’ll see this was actually part of a demo as well as a little fun time for the dogs and troops – they asked for volunteers who thought they could outrun the dogs:

“Military working dogs give Soldiers run for their money”

I always like seeing Ray Allen equipment in these pictures, too.  In case you don’t know, Ray Allen is the premier manufacturer of working dog equipment, and has been located here in Colorado Springs for over 60 years.

I use a very, very nice Ray Allen leash – the 6 foot long, 3/4 inch wide version of this Latigo Leather Braided Obedience Lead – don’t know how I ever got along without it:

Take a look around at their site – not only a lotta great equipment, but many great K-9 pictures and stories as well:

Ray Allen Professional K-9 Equipment

1 2 3