Service Dogs Trained to Combat PTSD in Veterans Getting Good Results

Pups with a Purpose : It Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog…But This Dog Can Help With Cryin' all the Time  

 (and other PTSD-related issues)

Fido Finds a Friend in the Pen

Service-dog programs like Puppies Behind Bars and and Canines for Combat Veterans are having "pawsative" effects on our wounded warriors—helping them to reintegrate into society with greater ease by supplying them with prisoner-trained pups that are wired to please.

Petco may be "where the pets go" but "real" dogs—those who cost a small fortune to train but perform a service above and beyond the call of wagging tails or licking faces—go behind bars.  "Bars" as in prisons, not drinking establishments.  Programs such as Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who’ve Served Us—a part of  the larger Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) service dog training program —are providing much needed companion canines to PTSD-identified veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Dog Tags" employs a rather unique training model: they use prisoners to raise puppies which then become service dogs for qualifying veterans. Puppies Behind Bars' first Dog Tag pup, Pax, was paired in February 2008 with Sergeant Bill Campbell, an Iraq War veteran who suffers from common symptoms of PTSD—including panic attacks, severe depression, memory loss, nightmares and fear of public places. Today, there are 81 PBB "incarcerated" puppies being trained inside six New York area prisons. 

Veterans and Volunteerism: New Report claims Possible Cure for "Inner" Demons of PTSD might be the "Outer" Cure of Helping Others

"Recognize our usefulness.  We are not charity cases. We are an American asset." - A veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan 

America’s “Sea of Goodwill” in the form of volunteerism still exists … but it’s missing its most valuable asset: veterans. So claims the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, in the foreword of a recent report: All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service.

It makes sense. After all, veterans are not only armed to the teeth with survival and other practical, battle-honed skills. They’re also used to laying down their lives for others. In fact, you could call them “The Ultimate Volunteer.”

That desire to serve, to give sacrificially for their country doesn’t go away when they’ve traded the battlefront for the home front. Far from it. In fact, studies show that most veterans, if given the opportunity, will happily don the uniform of civic service. After all, these boots are made for walking … not resting.

Win Some. Lose Some: Female Soldiers Can Now Serve on Subs. But Back Home Women Vets are Sinking Fast.

It's a double whammy.  The combination of PTSD and sexual trauma results in female veterans being 3.6 times more likely to be homeless than their civilian counterparts––and they're outpacing male vets as well.

 

I've always said that a sailor is not a sailor until she's (not) been tabooed. That, of course, was an obvious reference to the classic 1945 musical, Anchors Weigh, starring the indomitable Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor.

As anyone who loves that fabulous film knows, everyone––military and civilians alike––drank and danced their way through World War II.  They also sang a lot.  Than there was the fairer sex––enlisted females––who were not only fairer than the fair, they were all treated unfairly––at least according to today's Navy.

Seems that will no longer be a problem as the Pentagon has finally just bowed to pressure from various political groups and repealed the long-standing ban on female sailors serving on submarines. Up until the present day (at least since 1993) women have only been able to serve on surface naval ships. Now females serving alongside men in tight––and I do mean tight––quarters can crawl down into the hatch and anchors aweigh they go...sailing into the murky seas of equality.