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U.S. Marine Asked His Bootcamp Buddy to Watch His House While He Was Stationed Overseas. He Never Could’ve Predicted He’d Return to Find This.
Last week, a retiring U.S. Marine got the surprise of his life — and a fitting one for a 21-year military veteran.
Master Sergeant Jacinto Bernardo, an Iraq war veteran who recently retired after serving 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, asked his old Marine buddy Jeremy Epperson to watch his new home in Suisun, California, while he was stationed in Japan with his family. The home was a “major” fixer-upper because it was all the Bernardo family could afford.
Epperson gladly agreed to watch his Marine brother’s home, though he had much bigger plans in mind.
While Bernardo was away, Epperson raised money and support to do roughly $70,000 in renovations to the Marine’s house. He’s named the renovation program “Homecoming Heroes.”
https://www.theblaze.com/stories/20...er-couldve-predicted-hed-return-to-find-this/
Last week, a retiring U.S. Marine got the surprise of his life — and a fitting one for a 21-year military veteran.
Master Sergeant Jacinto Bernardo, an Iraq war veteran who recently retired after serving 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, asked his old Marine buddy Jeremy Epperson to watch his new home in Suisun, California, while he was stationed in Japan with his family. The home was a “major” fixer-upper because it was all the Bernardo family could afford.
Epperson gladly agreed to watch his Marine brother’s home, though he had much bigger plans in mind.
While Bernardo was away, Epperson raised money and support to do roughly $70,000 in renovations to the Marine’s house. He’s named the renovation program “Homecoming Heroes.”
https://www.theblaze.com/stories/20...er-couldve-predicted-hed-return-to-find-this/
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Comfy couch, why so depressed Hmmmmmm
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Service dog helps Afghan war veteran with PTSD
Service dog helps Afghan war veteran with PTSD
TORONTO - When Canadian veteran Chad Miron starts to have debilitating flashbacks about deadly improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan, his best friend is there to help him cope.
Miron is continuing his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the help of his service dog, Norman.
The 30-year-old corporal encountered many close calls and saw friends killed and injured during a 10-month tour in Afghanistan that wrapped up in 2010.
“The farther along the tour, the more afraid we got. As people started getting hurt and killed, you got a sense of your mortality. No one wanted to go on patrol, but it was the job,” Miron said.
On one bomb clearing patrol, an IED exploded, killing his sergeant.
Miron was one of the men to carry him to a helicopter for treatment, but it was too late.
He said when he returned home to Hamilton, he was in a “dark” place with suicidal thoughts.
He was emotionally numb, and couldn’t leave the house nor speak to people. He abused alcohol and was angry all the time.
“I had a girlfriend and I made her suffer even though she was always there for me,” he said.
Therapy with a psychiatrist helped his long recovery but he said the breakthroughs starting coming when he joined a program three years ago and obtained a service dog to get him through the days.
“There are memories of the war — specific incidents — that are hard to get over. Norman can simply give me a nudge and break me out of the thought I was trapped in,” Miron said.
He said with Norman’s help, he hopes to soon take electrical engineering courses at Mohawk College.
PTSD is a mental illness resulting from exposure to serious trauma. The symptoms include experiencing an event in nightmares, flashbacks or thoughts that come out of nowhere.
The National Service Dogs association — which gave Norman to Miron — was established to help enhance the lives of children with autism.
In 2010, the organization started to look at how its dogs could help others with special needs live independently.
“We found there was a need for people with PTSD and a lot had been done in the U.S. We found the type of dog needed was similar to the Labs and golden retrievers we breed for autism (clients) because their temperament is pretty laid back,” said Danielle Forbes, the executive director of National Service Dogs in Cambridge.
“Autism dogs need to be relaxed to help level out behavioural issues. That type of laid-back dog can help a veteran’s anxiety, which can be an important thing to integrate them back into the community.”
A veteran with PTSD can be stuck in a state of high alert and perceive everyone as a threat.
Simply having a person stand too close in a coffee line can trigger panic.
“They can’t handle that and it can cause stress and extreme anxiety,” Forbes said. “When it happens, the dogs are trained for perimeter training. They create a barrier so people can’t come into (a PTSD veteran’s) personal space.”
It’s amazing how non-standard methods are successfully being used to help PTSD, said Brig.-Gen. Julian Chapman, deputy commander of Land Force Central Area.
“It’s one of the great ways Canadian society is responding to our vets ... it’s important for our servicemen or previous servicemen,” Chapman said.
“It’s incredible how it works and truly a great way to use dogs. During war time we use them as sniffer dogs to keep our servicemen from harm and now we have flipped their use to service dogs assisting vets coming home.”
Phil Ralph, director of Wounded Warriors Canada, says service dogs can be life savers and applauds a federal study underway to determine the benefits of service dogs for vets with PTSD.
“They are doing a study and will find this is an outstanding program. It will confirm what we already know — that we need to move toward a national standard of using service dogs for mental health,” Ralph said.
Minister of Veterans Affairs Julian Fantino added he believes the study will show dogs can be an integral part of day-to-day life for vets with PTSD.
Some have concerns that psychiatric dogs are being provided too early and could be a crutch prior to the completion of standard treatment.
“The issue has been brought up. (Service dogs should) have to be prescribed by a physician to ensure the veteran is at the right stage of recovery to have a dog because it could be detrimental to healing if the dog is brought in too early,” said Gary Foster, a service officer with the Dominion Command Royal Canadian Legion in Ottawa.
Although currently there is at no national standard for the intake of a service dog, Legions are permitted to allocate a percentage of Poppy Fund donations towards providing one.
https://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/07/service-dog-helps-afghan-war-veteran-with-ptsd
Service dog helps Afghan war veteran with PTSD
TORONTO - When Canadian veteran Chad Miron starts to have debilitating flashbacks about deadly improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan, his best friend is there to help him cope.
Miron is continuing his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the help of his service dog, Norman.
The 30-year-old corporal encountered many close calls and saw friends killed and injured during a 10-month tour in Afghanistan that wrapped up in 2010.
“The farther along the tour, the more afraid we got. As people started getting hurt and killed, you got a sense of your mortality. No one wanted to go on patrol, but it was the job,” Miron said.
On one bomb clearing patrol, an IED exploded, killing his sergeant.
Miron was one of the men to carry him to a helicopter for treatment, but it was too late.
He said when he returned home to Hamilton, he was in a “dark” place with suicidal thoughts.
He was emotionally numb, and couldn’t leave the house nor speak to people. He abused alcohol and was angry all the time.
“I had a girlfriend and I made her suffer even though she was always there for me,” he said.
Therapy with a psychiatrist helped his long recovery but he said the breakthroughs starting coming when he joined a program three years ago and obtained a service dog to get him through the days.
“There are memories of the war — specific incidents — that are hard to get over. Norman can simply give me a nudge and break me out of the thought I was trapped in,” Miron said.
He said with Norman’s help, he hopes to soon take electrical engineering courses at Mohawk College.
PTSD is a mental illness resulting from exposure to serious trauma. The symptoms include experiencing an event in nightmares, flashbacks or thoughts that come out of nowhere.
The National Service Dogs association — which gave Norman to Miron — was established to help enhance the lives of children with autism.
In 2010, the organization started to look at how its dogs could help others with special needs live independently.
“We found there was a need for people with PTSD and a lot had been done in the U.S. We found the type of dog needed was similar to the Labs and golden retrievers we breed for autism (clients) because their temperament is pretty laid back,” said Danielle Forbes, the executive director of National Service Dogs in Cambridge.
“Autism dogs need to be relaxed to help level out behavioural issues. That type of laid-back dog can help a veteran’s anxiety, which can be an important thing to integrate them back into the community.”
A veteran with PTSD can be stuck in a state of high alert and perceive everyone as a threat.
Simply having a person stand too close in a coffee line can trigger panic.
“They can’t handle that and it can cause stress and extreme anxiety,” Forbes said. “When it happens, the dogs are trained for perimeter training. They create a barrier so people can’t come into (a PTSD veteran’s) personal space.”
It’s amazing how non-standard methods are successfully being used to help PTSD, said Brig.-Gen. Julian Chapman, deputy commander of Land Force Central Area.
“It’s one of the great ways Canadian society is responding to our vets ... it’s important for our servicemen or previous servicemen,” Chapman said.
“It’s incredible how it works and truly a great way to use dogs. During war time we use them as sniffer dogs to keep our servicemen from harm and now we have flipped their use to service dogs assisting vets coming home.”
Phil Ralph, director of Wounded Warriors Canada, says service dogs can be life savers and applauds a federal study underway to determine the benefits of service dogs for vets with PTSD.
“They are doing a study and will find this is an outstanding program. It will confirm what we already know — that we need to move toward a national standard of using service dogs for mental health,” Ralph said.
Minister of Veterans Affairs Julian Fantino added he believes the study will show dogs can be an integral part of day-to-day life for vets with PTSD.
Some have concerns that psychiatric dogs are being provided too early and could be a crutch prior to the completion of standard treatment.
“The issue has been brought up. (Service dogs should) have to be prescribed by a physician to ensure the veteran is at the right stage of recovery to have a dog because it could be detrimental to healing if the dog is brought in too early,” said Gary Foster, a service officer with the Dominion Command Royal Canadian Legion in Ottawa.
Although currently there is at no national standard for the intake of a service dog, Legions are permitted to allocate a percentage of Poppy Fund donations towards providing one.
https://www.torontosun.com/2014/09/07/service-dog-helps-afghan-war-veteran-with-ptsd
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I love dogs more than I love most human beings.
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MOST?????
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oldguyzer said:
Must keep family ahead of dogs.
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