Recapturing Our Sense of National Unity

This is a cross-post from http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,249768,00.html.

Last year was the ten year anniversary of the September 11th attacks that killed thousands of us and left a permanent scar on our collective national psyche. It was a wake-up call, and one that unified America in ways that were seemingly impossible. At that point nearly every American felt connected to the struggle and to the cause of freedom.

So what can we do on the 11th Anniversary of 9-11 to recapture that sense of unity?

Although Al Qaeda has been severely degraded, and yes, Osama Bin Laden is dead, this Nation is still combating the extremist elements that plotted and executed this attack, and our men and women are still dying in the hills of Afghanistan. In addition, although only 1 percent of Americans have borne this burden, the long tail costs of their care will be borne by all American tax-payers for decades to come.

But does the average American still feel the sense of connectedness to a national cause? Are the war wounds of our men and women in combat and their families – both visible and hidden – felt in any way by the rest of America?

According to a 2011 Pew Research study, the answer to that question is no.

“The nation’s post-9/11 wars have been fought by an all-volunteer active-duty military made up at any given time of just one half of one percent of the U.S. population. More than eight-in-ten (84 percent) of these modern-era veterans say the American public has little or no understanding of the problems that those in the military face. Most of the public (71 percent) agrees.”

Although I sometimes agree with Mark Twain who frequently quoted that there were three kinds of lies — “lies, dammed lies, and statistics” — in this case, I think the numbers are right, but that’s not the whole story.

You can’t measure collective patriotism with a study, and you cannot measure the tensile strength of the thread of compassion that runs through the fabric of America with quantitative research.

Americans are better than that, and I think we know it. Many of us are just looking for the right way to make the connection and to show a fundamental truth about being an American – we take care of our own.

So here the good news: there are many ways that Americans can both reflect and also reach back out to the community that responded in defense to the atrocity of the 9/11 attacks, and to honor the victims and heroic actions of everyday Americans. One way that every American can reach back and re-connect is by taking time to volunteer during the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance.

When President Obama declared 9-11 National Day of Service and Remembrance in 2009, he created a way for all Americans to pay homage to those who lost their lives on September 11th, to thank those who fought and bled to vindicate America’s way of life on foreign soil, and gave every American a way to personify our resoluteness to unity in times of tragedy. It’s honor through service — service to our communities and to our fellow Americans in need.

The National Day of Service is the culmination of an effort originally launched in 2002 by 9/11 family members and support groups, who worked to establish the service day as a forward-looking way to honor 9/11 victims, survivors, and others who rose up in service in response to the attacks.

Congress charged the Corporation for National and Community Service with supporting this effort across the country and the Corporation on National and Community Service is working with numerous organizations to implement one of the largest days of charitable service in U.S. history.

If last year is a bench mark of the high tide of public interest in serving on the ten-year Anniversary of 9-11, this year, hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals empowered by CNCS’ two signature programs, AmeriCorps and Senior Corps will give tens of thousands of hours of their time in service to and remembrance of the victims of 9-11, the first responders, members of the military, veterans, and their families in honor of the day.

One of the grantees from CNCS’ National Day of Service Award project, The Mission Continues is with MyGoodDeed is taking this opportunity to a new level – serving by and with military veterans who have come home from serving their country in uniform and then serve again on the home front . These military Veterans come home and then dedicate hundreds of hours to serve their communities and in the process they motivate hundreds of thousands of every-day citizens to join with them.

There are hundreds of Mission Continues fellows doing this work, and they join the national service fight with another 27,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members who are also Veterans and who dedicate a year or more of their lives to serving in their communities.

According to CNCS’ service day partner MyGoodDeed, last year more than 33 million individuals around the country engaged in acts of “charitable service” and good deeds in honor of this day. This year, there are opportunities to serve on 9-11 in nearly every corner of our great nation.

When we look back at the unity of effort that once was, and see the possible, we can embrace today a vision of unity of effort and patriotism that does not need to diminish.

If even for just one day.

The opportunity to serve with and remember the sacrifices of our patriots is here, it is now, and every American is called to serve, and you simply cannot measure that. What we can measure is the dedication of the 99 percent who never wore a uniform to serve with their fellow man and woman on 9-11 and by doing so, honor the 1 percent who did.

Good deeds can unite us.

Learn more at http://www.serve.gov/sept11.asp.

Armed Forces Day, Mission Accomplished, and the New Dawn

The greatest military victories of my generation were achieved though the empowerment of freedom loving people. On this, Armed Forces Day we have our leadership and our military to thank for this and for the real mission accomplishment and New Dawn in Iraq.

CPT Koby J. Langley on road to Fallujah, one month before declaration of "Mission Accomplished"

It was also eight years ago this month that the former Commander-In-Chief made a victorious proclamation.  I was sleeping in a make shift tent from a poncho in the middle of Iraq, and I knew that he was wrong. It would not be us to declare victory, but the Iraqi people.  Victory would not come that day, or that year — we would be lucky if it occurred that decade.

Most importantly, it was not up to us alone to declare victory inIraq– in situations like the ones we found ourselves in May of 2003, it rarely ever is.  Often times the best we can do is sow the seeds of victory, and then dodge the flying shoes while freedom takes root.

As a brief example, in 2008, the World listened as a nation at war within fought for free and fair elections inIran.  The Iranian people laid the foundation for leveraging the power of free speech and the internet in ways that the world had not seen before.  An enemy who vowed the destruction of another free nation was brought to its knees from within by the unchained power of youth in revolt, armed only with cell phones, computers and a Facebook page – empowered from within.

Fast forward three years, and Lybia is harvesting those lithium seeds of freedom, andSyriais looking across the Gulf to her sister inAfrica and asking what about me? Democracy by the people cannot be denied.

And as Syria looks across the Gulf at her sister inAfrica, we  are reminded that this is  a continent to continue it’s fight for new energy victory and natural resource independence.  We saw Nigera reap the rewards of their own investments in natural resources, leveraging the entire continent to do so with the Organization of African Unity that was supported and championed by President Carter so many years ago.   He sowed those seeds over thirty years ago.

I imagine that no one can dictate the future of Iran, nor the future of Egypt or of Lybia orSyria… butAmericahas always supported the struggles for freedom loving people … whether the chains echo in long and dark hallways of oppression, or in the dimly lit streets of dictatorship.

It was, ultimately this approach that allowed over 100,000 troops to return from the belly of Babel in Iraq and into the arms of their waiting loved ones here at home.  It was the relentless dedication to the mission of empowering the Iraqi people that allowed the Iraqi people to hold free and fair elections.  When all seemed lost, it was General Petraeus who reminded us all that we needed only meet the Iraqi people at their doorsteps, and they would take their own countrymen across the threshold.

So on Armed Force Day, and seven years from a fateful speech on victory,  we must say thank you to the securers of the real victory – the one that has brought us this far. Thank you to Secretary Gates — he was, by many measures, the greatest Secretary of Defense of our generation.  Thank you to General Petraeus, we are lucky to have him.  Thank you to our Commander in Chief, President Obama and Mrs. Obama, who have brought renewed focus to those whom have given the most – our military families.  Above all, thank you to the men and women who brought Iraqto her New Dawn – mission accomplished.

Wounded Warriors Get 14,000 Resources Direct to Smartphones

This week Wounded Warriors, Veterans, and their Family members now have nealry 14,000 resources at their fingertips and on their iPhones — and by coincidence (or maybe not) Craig Newmark is connecting the world for the common good.

Do you believe in Karma?

About two years ago, I met up with Craig Newmark in a small café across from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and a little frazzled at the idea of meeting the man, and forgot my wallet.

Luckily, Craig understood, and we just sat and sipped coffee while discussing the two different sides of the planet we were from. I was a combat Veteran of Iraq, and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric K. Shinseki. Craig was, well … Craig. A bonefide genius. During our chat, Craig mentioned that he was interested in helping our Wounded Warriors and Veterans and was inspired by the way that the President and Secretary Shinseki were putting their money where their mouth was in supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He said that it had occurred to him that there many resources out there that could help the Wounded Warrior community, but that there just did not seem to be a way to do it, or do it well. Fast forward about two years, and Craig has lent his genius to several advisory groups on Veterans issues, and then launches a website called www.Craigconnects.org.

This is man who fights for what he believes in. That I can relate to. More importantly, he is fighting on the side of angels. The mission of his new site — “Connecting the World for the Common Good” says it all.

That I can not only relate to, but find inspiration in. Today, I have the honor of working on a project to connect wounded warriors, veterans and their families to resources for free and brought to you by the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor.

This week, over 14,000 connections to resources for benefits and services became available for recovering service members, their families and Veterans – on their smartphones via a national resource directory for Wounded Warriors, Veterans and family members at www.nrd.gov.

The connections run deep – from National, or State, to local resources. You can find any number of benefits to help – from benefits and compensation, to family and caregiver support, homelessness assistance, to job resources, to local counseling services to help with the re-adjustment coming home after combat. 

All free connections, and all navigable by your zipcode.

In addition, the information and services on the website are screened by the Department of Defense in collaboration with the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Labor who built the site. Since October, use of the site has grown from around 40,000 each month to 90,000.

Craig Newmark is making a run at connecting people to resources himself, and it is great that these two ventures are highlighting Veterans.  Now I am not saying that Craig invented the idea, he didn‘t. What I am saying is that when smart people from different corners of the world get together and connect in ways that seem unlikely … good things can happen.

So, if you are a Wounded Warrior, Veteran, or Military Family Member and want to connect, fire up the ipod or droid and navigate to www.nrd.gov.   While you are on, make sure to tweet up @craignewmark in between clicks – tell him I said thanks for coffee.

The Casualty Uncounted, Immeasurable and Peerless

Over the past weeks, I followed the conversations on Clay Hunt – fearless advocate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, and a particularly important voice for those Service members who struggle with the hidden wounds of war – depression, and post-traumatic stress.  He took his own life two weeks ago.

Clay took his own life, and left many wondering why. His contributions to our community were immeasurable and peerless. Yet still, he joined many others who have taken this most violent of paths to find their own quiet space amongst the noise, after the guns draw silent. The casualty uncounted. I did not know Clay very well personally, but I did know him.  He likely held within himself, as each Warrior holds within themselves, this duality of man – our humanity and our inhumanity. 

Every one who has their senses inextricably bound to the smell of burning trash in the streets of a third-world ghetto, or the sound of the shuffling sandals of thin wrinkled Arab man who has his stride shortened as much by his distraction of keeping his thin cigarette lit, as by the undersized off-white burqa.   

Every Warrior has likely felt the tug against this stoic, solid and seeming unmovable force that we call our anchor to humanity.  Yet every one of us has also sat in a quiet moment while all about us was raging as you squinted and clenched against the bellows of the Siren of Wars.  Squinted, and clenched as she drug your anchor across the coarse and cold sands of your soul.  Unforgiving, Unrelentless. Yet you squared your shoulders, leaned forward with your back to the winds and shouted – HOOAH.  In part to embrace your destiny, and in part to scare away the chains that bind us from doing what we know that we must.

How to find tools that will help you thrive as a returning combat Veteran is what I want to share with each of you today.  Your anchor is still there. It is still there, I assure you.

If you are a Combat Veteran in need of a place to go to talk in confidence, you can visit a VetCenter and receive free and confidential counseling services for you and your family.  If you are a family member or friend of a Warrior struggling with depression, and you just want some ideas on how to communicate to them, please visit the Defense Centers of Excellence, www.realwarriors.net, or the MilitaryOneSource confidential counseling services , and schedule free and confidential one-on-one counseling services.   The suicide prevention hotline is also available 24/7 -Dial 1-800-273-8255 (TALK), Veterans Press 1 to talk to someone NOW. Dont want anything to do with the military anymore? There are still those who can help – www.giveanour.org.

The loss of Clay is a loss to all of  the Wounded Warrior and Veterans advocacy community.  Please vist his memorial site. 

Landing a Job After Service – Tune In and Get Paid

This article is for my fellow Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans who are looking for a job, or friends and family who want to help them out and have three minutes to tune in.

By the end of this article, I am going to help each one of you land a job — the only thing you have to do is to accept the challenge of being who you already are. 

I recently watched a film Amelia Earhart, it was called “Amelia.” I am not certain of it’s historical accuracy, but the only thing that really mattered was the beginning, and the end. I’m pretty sure those were accurate. In the beginning, Ameila states that she intends to fly around the world – the precise term is “circumnavigate the globe.” In the end, she dies trying.

That’s not what I am here to tell you – “keep going, or die trying” or some other unusable dribble.

What I am here to tell you is that Amelia was in the very last leg of her trek around the globe before she disappeared across  the Pacific.

The very last leg. She was at the finish line, and then … nothing. Vanished.   You made it this far, you have visited the devil’s sandy doorstep, and either came home with a picture of a gold-plated AK or a shrapnel riddled HMMWV (Humvee).  You made it back, you are now in the last leg — don’t disappear.

 

 

See, for Amelia, it really can’t be said that she did not know how to fly — she was 90% of the way there — she checked that block. You also really can’t say that she didn’t know how to circumnavigate the globe; in essence, she did just that as it was a straight shot home from a small island in the Pacific to the coast of California – she checked that one as well.

What Amelia failed at, if you are to believe the film, was not tuning to the right frequency — not being able to hear the calls from control tower on that small island in the Pacific telling her to land, to get refueled, and then to fly home victorious.

You, just like Amelia, already have all the tools you need to succeed — you have had a military career that has made you an ideal candidate for a leadership position. You have certifications and training from here to Howland Island. You checked the box.

The only thing you need to do is to realize that this offer has already been made, you just couldn’t hear it.  The only thing you need to do is to tune in, and get paid. Let me help you get tuned in.

Step One. Get your mind right – read a recent article by Dan Gomez on the ten lessons learned for every transitioning combat veteran.

Step Two. Get your information straight – visit www.turbotap.org , and use their new online career decision toolkit.  Yeah, it takes a little while to get through, but it is time well spent.

Lastly, go to the Department of Labor, and visit their www.fedshirevets.gov  site to find job positions, or call out JP Morgan Chase out on their assertion that they are hiring 1000 Veterans – why not you?

One special note for our combat wounded — if you are a disabled Veteran that is rated at over 30% from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or  you suffer from PTSD or TBI, there may be a special hiring authority that qualifies you for a direct hire — no muss, no fuss.

Call any federal agency, and ask them if they have a hiring manager that focuses on hiring Veterans.   Here is the DoD board – http://www.dodvets.com/job.asp

Last year, President Obama issued an executive order that required every major federal agency in America to have  an office that helps Veterans get employed. 

Did you know that? 

Looking for a job after a tour (or four) in Iraq and Afghanistan can feel like you are trying to circumnavigate the globe — an endless flight across barren landscapes and oceans waiting to swallow you alive.

Help is out there my friends — remember how far you have gone and who you are.  You are on the last leg.  Tune in, don’t disappear.

Stop Lossed? Don’t Get KeyserSözed! Get paid!

One of my favorite films is “The Usual Suspects”.  The film is about a group of criminals who are led by a mysterious puppeteer that no one has ever actually met by the name of Keyser Söze.  Because no one actually ever sees him, people start believing that he is not real, and he conducts his criminal schemes under an impregnable veil of secrecy.

One problem — he was real, and in their hesitation and debate about whether he existed or not, the good guys let him get away — right under their noses.

 One of the best lines in the film was delivered by a “witness” during an interview.  They believed that their “witness” had information about the mysterious figure.  At one point, the witness starts telling them about the great feats of Keyser Soze and the Cops get irate.  The cops shout down the witness – these are myths, they say, criminal fairy tales!    Keyser Söze does not exist.

The “witness” chastises them along by saying that “the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist… and like that, he’s gone.”  Unconvinced, eventually, the cops fall victim to the myth that he does not really exist and Keyser Söze walks free and disappears with his ill-gotten gains, never to be seen again.

Before the end of the year, one of the greatest benefits  offered to Service members who served after 9-11 will vanish.  Some still beleive it is a myth, and some have still not applied.  This is a benefit that may pay up to $500 a month for every month that the Service member’s contract was extended, also known as “stop-lossed”.

 The application deadline is now October 21st, 2011, and there is still money on the table. Some suspect that folks are not applying because they don’t believe it’s real, or that it is a trick to get them to re-enlist or somehow extend their service.  That is a myth.  

 Retroactive Stop Loss Special Pay compensates members, who, at any time during the period beginning on September 11, 2001 and ending on September 30, 2009, served on active duty while the member’s enlistment or period of obligated service was involuntarily extended due to the provision of law commonly referred to as “Stop Loss Authority”, or similarly, whose eligibility for retirement/transfer to the Fleet Reserve was suspended due to application of “Stop Loss  Authority.”

There is still money in the bank, and many of the eligible Service members, Veterans, and eligible beneficiaries are not taking up Uncle Sam on the offer for fear of somehow being pulled back into service, or some other urban legend.  It is like Söze has mounted a counter-information campaign, and Veterans are being snookered.  

 The myth may/may not be playing a role in folks not filling out the easy application to get paid for the time that they got extended, but myths have a way of becoming reality if enough people are willing to silently let the Devil whisper in their ear that he does not exist.

 President Obama himself has weighed in on the benefit he signed into law last year by issuing a Public Service Announcement stating that:  “As your commander in chief, I’m here to tell you that this is no gimmick or trick. You worked hard. You earned this money. It doesn’t matter whether you were Active or Reserve, whether you’re a veteran who experienced “stop loss” or the survivor of a Service member who did — if your service was extended, you’re eligible.”

 Although many Service members may not want to apply, or simply do not know about it, the real loss is to the survivors of those would have been eligible – these spouses or children may be eligible to receive the benefit directly themselves.

 Even if you are not sure about your eligibility, the average benefit is $3,700.  I know some families could really use that kind of money, and taking a few minutes to fill in the online application would be worth it. 

Don’t get KeyserSözed, get paid.

Army?  Apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Pay HERE.

Navy? Apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Pay HERE.

Airforce?  Apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Pay HERE

Marines?  Apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Pay HERE.

 #stoplossedgetcash

 – Movie Spoiler-

A Woman in History with Lessons for New Generation of Wounded Warrior Researchers

I would like to share a nice blog article by my fellow cause blogger, PPandMe.  She recently blogged about an icon of Americas equality movement– Dr. Dorothy Haight.  It is appropriate to mention Dr. Dorothy Haight not only because of her contributions to the fabric of the American ideals of equality under the law, but because of her willingness to address difficult and complex issues that touched on class, race, and educational status.   

Dr. Haight was first and last, a champion of moral and ethical treatment of those most in need of protection.  

PPandMe mentions Dr. Haight’s work on the Belmont Report in response to governmental research and withholding of treatment to impoverished farm workers who had contracted an easily curable disease.  The Belmont Report gained acclaim in the medical community as a benchmark in ethical standards for medical research.  The Report parsed down the Hippocratic Oath down to easy to apply rules of research — first, do no harm; second, protect those who need it the most.

The Belmont Report was co-written by Dr. Haight, and was response to a Health and Human Services study conducted from the 1930s until the early 1970s on poor, African-American farmers, who had contracted syphilis.  They were enrolled in a study on the effects of syphilis, and were given free general medical care, but were not counseled on treatment options for the disease and/or provided medication that would have cured their condition.  Many died from it, and other passed the easily curable condition onto their children via congenital syphilis.  Eventually, the United States settled a claim by the families, and compensated them for their failure to treat, and withholding of treatment. 

This was a watershed moment for ethical governmental research that led the way for modern-day “informed consent” and challenged researches to take a more active role in treatment and prevention.

Why do I find this story an interesting topic for a Wounded Warrior blog?  Because it is a bellwether moment for research.  What the Belmont Report means for me is embracing  research that is substantively more proactive and progressive in nature.  Not for the sake of research, but because it is the right thing to do.   

The Belmont Report moved research, and researchers to acknowledge that they must do more than observe and report, that they have an ethical obligation to do no harm, and to protect those most at need.  They could not simply observe and report — they must prevent and treat.

When I returned from Iraq, I began to hear stories from my buddies who had served with me about unexplained ailments and difficulty in getting diagnosis and treatment.  The returning Veterans of modern conflicts are reporting exposure to a plethora of unfriendly things from their time in combat, such as depleted uranium. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs, under the leadership of Secretary Eric Shinseki and Deputy Secretary Gould  have taken pro-active steps to expand compensation to Veterans for things like exposure to Agent Orange, and as of last year, for Veterans of the First Gulf War, the Department of Veterans Affairs now compensates for complex maladies associated with service in the Gulf War theater. 

Last year, they stood up a Task Force to develop the policy of compensation and issued a report for this era of Veterans.

The perceived modus operandi has been for the government to compensate for these issues after the science catches up with the complaints, rebuild the record, and back-pay the claimant — an expensive way to do business. Compound this poor business model with the ethical quandary this presents, and there is not a problem, but a new opportunity.  An opportunity to make another break-thru moment in government research. 

We see Service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with similar reports of exposures and complex medical issues.  Do we invest in the science now and push the researchers now to start the process in order to ensure that we are not creating another generation of Veterans who will, twenty years later, stand at the doorway of the VA with tattered medical record in hand and  a series of unexplained illnesses?

Is this an ethical imperative for the medical establishment to take a leap forward in their thinking in the same way that the Belmont Report did?  It is beginning to look that way. 

There has been historic progress that cannot be overlooked.  For the first time, VA worked with the DoD in researching potential battlefield exposures while combat operations were still underway.  

This new era of collaboration is timely given the increasing debate about toxic exposures from “burn pits” in Iraq, written extensively about by groups like IAVA in their 2011 Policy Agenda and DAV.

The moral leadership of today, much like the researchers who pushed for the Belmont Report,  are pushing the establishment from observe, report and eventually compensate, to prevent and treat.  Although history can repeat itself – if our leadership looks back to figures like Dr. Haight — it will not

I know the line when I see it. Protesting Funerals and the First Amendment

So I was sitting in a Federal Court house in the Federal District Court of Maryland a few years back, and was witness to one of the most vitriolic and offensive diatribes that I had ever witnessed in my life.

The “minister” of the Westboro Baptist “church” was explaining to the Judge how God was punishing Mr. Snyder for his son being a part of the military that condones homosexuality. Mr. Snyder lost his son to combat in Iraq. On the day of his funeral, the Westboro Baptist Church found it fit to conduct a protest, holding the most offensive signs imaginable – like these.

I was sitting in the courtroom that day because my good Army buddy, Sean Summers was arguing the case for Mr. Snyder, who was suing the “church” for their outrageous display at the funeral of his son. I can go on for hours about all of the venom that Mr. Phelps had to share with the court that day but the signs speak for themselves.

Sean won that day, the “church” appealed, and then argued the case before the Supreme Court. Yesterday, he lost his case before the Supreme Court, and today, I could not have been prouder of him. I was proud of him for standing up for decency and the sanctity that should accompany the one moment, the one hour, the one second in lifetime that a one soul looks to the other, and says farewell.

For a moment, take away the context that this was a War hero who was laid to rest, deserving of a Nations respect and gratitude for his last full measure of devotion … take away the context that this was where friends and family were met with the knowledge of this ugly protest … take away the fact that this was a father grieving for his son, knowing that there were others there to steal that final moment from him.

You don’t need to take away the fact that we have acknowledged that almost all speech in this country is protected, and rightfully so.  I consider myself a free-speech advocate, but I know the line when I see it.

But take all of that away for just one moment, and focus on two simple truths for every person reading these words, and the billions others on this spinning mass of humanity. Focus on this one simple truth — you are born once, and you die once. Who one amongst all of us has the right to steal that joy, and that pain from any one of those whom have loved us?

Today, the Supreme Court said that Mr. Phelps could … so today I pray to the heavens that he doesn’t come to the funeral of anyone you love. I offer this prayer, because after today in America, that is the only thing standing in the way.

See Mr. Snyder’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision Here.

The Dog Blog and Wounded Warriors

So, I have to say that this blog about Dogs is one of my favorites! It may seem like there is nothing about Dogs and Wounded Warriors that seem relevant in the Blog “niche” discourse.

Not the time or place right? Well, first impressions are less about the timing and more about the lack thereof.

So if you stay with me for a second or two, I will tell you how dogs and wounded warriors make perfect sense. Or, to be more accurate, they make sensible solutions to the ill effects of war-torn psyche.

What many of you may not know is there have been previous attempts on studies about how dogs have direct and quantifiable benefits on behavioral health – things like stress, anxiety and general well-being. Now pet owners know this for a fact. They can attest to the comfort of a warm welcome at home after a stressful day.

But can dogs actually have a medically cognizable impact on the kinds of depression and post traumatic stress that combat soldiers experience?

Well, several folks seem to think so.  some even note that Dogs that have “served” overseas also have unique challenges to overcome on their own.  I can’t say one way or the other whether I think the science supports it, but what I can say is that the one thing that kept me grounded when I returned from Iraq was my dogs. One in particular, all eighty-five (85) pounds of the lap dog known as “Airborne Ally.” Airborne Ally earned her nickname after I snuck her into a “fun” jump out of a perfectly good aircraft on an anonymous drop zone on an anonymous post in North Carolina (that’s paratrooping, not parachuting for the military lingo challenged).

Before I deployed to Iraq, I placed a picture of Airborne Ally in my ballistic helmet right next to an emergency chem. light and an emergency mini of Jack Daniels. When I walked off of the plane after witnessing atrocities I still wish I could forget, my thoughts were to my furry Airborne buddy who would surely be there to lick me back to sanity.

While I was gone, however, Ally was lost to me forever,  and I would never have a chance to share my experiences in Iraq (good and bad) with her.

I don’t know about the science of it, but I know one thing – dogs make people happy – soldiers included.  So here to pet blogs, service dogs, and my airborne buddy Ally – may she rest in peace.