‘Got My 6: ‘ El Paso veteran reflects on how his service dog changed his life
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- After 25 years in the Army, Todd Robertson took a medical retirement. He'd been deployed, worked his way through ranks and felt a deep sense of connection to his service.
After he stepped away from the military, Robertson's family started to support him through the change. His wife was concerned about some of the anxiety and mental health symptoms.
She helped him apply for a service dog specially trained to support him -- and other veterans. It changed his life. Robertson says his battle buddy supports him in many ways. He was paired with his service dog through a group focused on providing trained animals to veterans of any era.
K9s for Warriors is a national organization -- which provides specifically trained service dogs for military veterans. Since it's start it's paired almost a thousand veterans with dogs to help them manage the symptoms of post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury or sexual trauma related to their service.
The organization says that they ahve a backlog of requests for service dogs for veterans. With many veterans diagnosed with PTSD from Vietnam to Iraq, the demand is great.
The CDC estimates that about 60 million people -- or roughly 20% of hte U.S. population -- are living with disabilities.
Last week, a bipartisan resolution recognized the work of service animals by designating September 20th as National Service Dog Day.
Avery Martinez covers mental health in the Borderland as part of ABC-7’s Be Mindful initiative. He is also a Report for America corps member. RFA places talented, emerging journalists in newsrooms like ABC-7’s to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.
