Military Officer - July 2007 - (Page 65)

disabled. Many of them are double amputees, but they don’t want to use canes and crutches. They would much rather use service dogs, because they ﬁt better into their lifestyle,” says O’Brien. Organizations such as NEADS/ Dogs For Deaf And Disabled Americans, Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Paws for Patriots, the Guide Dog Foundation’s VetDogs Project, and Patriot Paws Service Dogs have ramped up efforts to provide guide and service dogs to America’s returning war wounded. The demand is greater than the supply, but every dog that is trained and placed helps one more veteran get back on his or her feet, say trainers. “There have been close to 25,000 servicemembers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and half have been seriously wounded,” says Jeff Bressler, chief marketing ofﬁcer for the Guide Dog Foundation. “Out of those who have been seriously wounded, close to 800 are amputees. Blindness has not been a huge factor in injuries coming out of Afghanistan and Iraq — it’s more body trauma. That’s why we’re servicing an older population with guide dogs; on the wounded end, it’s more about providing service dogs.” Thomas Miller, executive director of the 10,000-member Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), says current enrollment conﬁrms Bressler’s observations. “[BVA’s] largest growth population right now is World War II-era veterans who are losing their vision due to age-related conditions like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy,” he says. “Fortunately, so far there have not been large numbers of servicemembers coming back blind [from OEF/OIF].” Despite aggressive efforts on the part of training organizations, guide and service dogs remain in short supply, because they can take up to two years to train, depending on the unique skills they must master. PHOTOS: TOP, COURTESY NEADS/DOGS FOR DEAF AND DISABLED AMERICANS; BOTTOM, TRAVIS LONG/THE NEWS AND OBSERVER Staff Sgt. Roland Paquette, USARet., relies on service dog Rainbow (above) to help him adapt to double amputations. (right) Guide dog Indi accompanies Sgt. Maj. Colin Rich, USA-Ret., to a speaking engagement at a meeting of MOAA’s Triangle Chapter in North Carolina. To address this growing need, some organizations have increased the number of dogs they hope to train and place each year. NEADS/ Dogs For Deaf And Disabled Americans, for example, boosted its number from 50 to 60, with 10 dogs going to disabled veterans. “Over the next ﬁve years we hope to double the number of dogs we place to meet [the needs of ] this new disabled population and to maintain the other disabled population, which has remained fairly stable,” O’Brien says. NEADS/Dogs For Deaf And Disabled Americans is typical in its J U LY 2 0 0 7 MILITARY OFFICER 65

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - July 2007

Military Officer - July 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: In Focus After the Kim Dynasty Animal House Paying Tribute MOAA Member Services Pages of History Faces of MOAA Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Scholarship Donors MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Encore

Military Officer - July 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.