Serving as a U.S. Marine within the Vietnam War, Griggs was caught in a mortar attack in the midst of the jungle. That day, his 19th birthday, he misplaced 4 fellow Marines, together with one who had left behind a two-year-old son.
“All he ever wanted to do was just go home and be with his son,” Griggs mentioned. Without any kids of his personal, “I started living with survivor’s guilt, wondering why I didn’t die.”
Celebrating his grandson’s second birthday introduced again the reminiscence of the mortar attack and Griggs knew he wanted assist – and a life change.
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Hero’s Puppy for Life founder Frank Griggs in 1969 throughout his deployment to Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps. Griggs suffered from PTSD for many years – and based the organization to assist different veterans like himself. He trains golden retrievers utilizing a no-harm, no-fear based mostly coaching mannequin. Photo: Courtesy Frank Griggs
Griggs is the founding father of Hero’s Puppy for Life, a Colorado-based nonprofit organization that pairs Golden Retriever puppies with U.S. navy veterans affected by PTSD.
“The goal is to bring individuals back to a life that they had before their trauma occurred,” mentioned Griggs.
About 23% of veterans who get care from the Veterans Administration suffer from lifetime PTSD, , based on the VA. The psychiatric dysfunction usually lasts lengthy after a traumatic occasion or collection of occasions happen. Symptoms can embrace flashbacks and nightmares, distressing ideas, social isolation, and irritability.
Griggs began the organization in 2015 whereas present process therapy for his personal PTSD.
When he noticed the cost for a educated service canine was upwards of $25,000, Griggs went again to highschool and educated to be a complicated canine coaching skilled and habits specialist.
The first canine he educated was his personal canine, Bo, now 8, who he jokingly calls the “dogfather” of the organization.
The dogs practice for 9 months with their house owners and should accompany their house owners practically in all places to foment a robust bond. For the primary 4 months, the vets and puppies undergo basic canine coaching and socialization. During the previous couple of months, the dogs get PTSD task-specific coaching.
“In most cases the dogs know well before we do when something’s going on,” Griggs mentioned. The dogs are educated to alert their proprietor of a PTSD flare up. In some circumstances, the dogs will bark, put their paws on their proprietor’s lap, or lead their proprietor out of a room.
Griggs says he trains Golden Retrievers, particularly English Cream Golden Retrievers due to their temperament.
“They’re very forgiving, very loving, and they want to please,” he mentioned.
The affect is clear to Griggs.
“I had one veteran where it took four months for that individual to go into a Home Depot,” he mentioned. “She called me the day she went in, and she was like, ‘I don’t know why I never went in before. Everybody was just so kind. Everybody loved my dog.’”
Griggs mentioned that’s why the dogs are life-changing. “The puppy becomes the tool to help them start coming back into society again.”
Matthew McLaurin, who served 25 years within the U.S. Navy as an aviator and take a look at pilot, along with his service canine Naomi. “Naomi is like the ability to have a breath of fresh air for me in my life,” McLaurin says. “I have that peace and that calm because I know that she’s there.” Photo: Courtesy Matthew McLaurin
Last weekend, the organization, which turned a nonprofit in 2016, graduated its 95th puppy. Grigg’s is at the moment coaching its 100th canine–,the primary deaf canine to be a part of this system.
Griggs does all of the coaching himself freed from cost -and with out taking home a paycheck.
“We can’t help everybody in the world, but we can help those who’ve served our country and our communities,” he mentioned.
Michael Lucky served within the U.S. Marine Corps for 8 years – his most recent deployment was to Afghanistan from 2019-2020. Lucky was paired with Timber 5 weeks in the past. “I know he’s a task-trained service animal, but it gives me a task to be with him. And it helps me out to almost serve him and be there for him.” Photo: Andrea Kramar, RMPBS
“What I’m most proud of is the fact that I get to see people’s lives change,” he mentioned.
“If somebody were to tell me now, ‘What was the reason why you survived?’ I would say this is the reason why.”
Today, Griggs nonetheless thinks about his former Marine Corps members who handed away.
“I want those four guys [who died in Vietnam] to know that there was a good reason why and that there was a purpose,” he says. “And that means more to me than anything else in the world, is that they didn’t die in vain.”
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You can be taught extra about Hero’s Puppy for Life here.
Andrea Kramar is the investigative multimedia journalist at RMPBS. You can attain her at [email protected].
Julio Sandoval is senior photojournalist at RMPBS. You can attain him at [email protected].
