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US Army Veteran Steve Moore poses for a photograph with Snickers, a young puppy he adopted, in front of his home in Santa Rosa, California, United States on September 30, 2014. Moore served in the US Army for four and a half years and did two tours in Iraq with Dragon Company, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Veteran Laura Jordan works with a service dog at Bergin University of Canine Studies in Rohnert Park, California, United States on September 30, 2014. Jordan is an OIF/OEF Veteran who served from 2003 to 2006. She was attached to a Transportation Brigade at Mare Island in Vallejo and later on to a few various units such as the 467th, 483rd, 481st & the 1397th. She was deployed on short missions to various ports to load and unload heavy artillery such as tanks, jeeps, hummers, and other heavy equipment needed for use in both combat zones.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Veteran Chris Gash whit a service dog at the VA’s Menlo Park campus in California, United States on October 3, 2014. US Army Veteran Chris Gash served with 3rd Armored Division, 12th Combat Engineer Battalion and were deployed to Iraq during Operation Desert Storm with Task Force 4/8th in 1991. Paws for Purple Hearts is the first program of its kind to offer therapeutic intervention for Veterans and active-duty military personnel by teaching those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to train service dogs for their comrades with combat-related injuries.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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US Navy Veteran Chris Bagley works with a dog during at Bergin University of Canine Studies in Rohnert Park, California, United States on September 30, 2014. Bagley served the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier with Electronic Warfare Squadron 132 from 1980 to 1984.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Marine Veteran Paul Robicheaux works with a puppy during the Men’s Trauma Recovery Program dog training session at the VA’s Menlo Park campus in California, United States on October 3, 2014. US Marine Corps Veteran Paul Robicheaux served with 1st Battalion, 12th Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii between 1993 and 1997. Paws for Purple Hearts is the first program of its kind to offer therapeutic intervention for Veterans and active-duty military personnel by teaching those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to train service dogs for their comrades with combat-related injuries.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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US Army Veteran Steve Moore teaches a class for fellow veterans at Bergin University of Canine Studies in Rohnert Park, California, United States on September 30, 2014. Moore served in the US Army for four and a half years and did two tours in Iraq with Dragon Company, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Veteran Julia Ann Sutton holds a puppy during a dog training session at Bergin University of Canine Studies in Rohnert Park, California, United States on September 30, 2014.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Paul Robicheaux (R) takes the elevator while Joshua JC Brum leads a service dog towards the staircase at the VA’s Menlo Park campus in California, United States on October 3, 2014. US Marine Corps Veteran Paul Robicheaux served with 1st Battalion, 12th Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii between 1993 and 1997. US Air Force Veteran Joshua JC Brum served with 99th Air Base Wing, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron, EOD squadron on two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2011. Paws for Purple Hearts is the first program of its kind to offer therapeutic intervention for Veterans and active-duty military personnel by teaching those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to train service dogs for their comrades with combat-related injuries.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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Veteran Joshua JC Brum with a service dog at the VA’s Menlo Park campus in California, United States on October 3, 2014. US Air Force Veteran Joshua JC Brum served with 99th Air Base Wing, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron, EOD squadron on two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2011. Paws for Purple Hearts is the first program of its kind to offer therapeutic intervention for Veterans and active-duty military personnel by teaching those with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to train service dogs for their comrades with combat-related injuries.Balazs Gardi for TIME
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US Army Veteran Steve Moore walks dogs at the Howarth Park in Santa Rosa, California, United States on September 30, 2014. Moore served in the US Army for four and a half years and did two tours in Iraq with Dragon Company, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.Balazs Gardi for TIME
Steve Moore, 33, served two tours in Iraq as a sergeant in the Army. Now he lives in California with a golden retriever from Paws for Purple Hearts—which teaches veterans how to train service dogs for their physically disabled comrades at the Palo Alto VA’s Menlo Park campus, as illustrated above—and runs a similar program called Dogs Helping Veterans in Rohnert Park.
When I got out of the army for the second time, I came back to California. I was married. I got a decent job within six months, and I had a son shortly after that. For maybe a year or so, things were going pretty good.
Then our second son was born, which turned my whole life upside down. When I saw both my kids together, the only thing I could see in their faces were these two little Iraqi boys hanging off the archway over the roadway leading into the town of Husaybah, who were executed for selling me sodas at the checkpoint and helping Americans, supposedly. I started having nightmares of people dropping out of the sky from nowhere, hanging from their necks.
I pretty much ran out on my family at that time. I lost my job. I was an adrenaline junkie. I had a very fast motorcycle, and I was the stereotypical sports bike rider, endangering myself and the well being of everyone around me pretty much at all times. I was drinking really heavily. I was arrested several times on alcohol-related events. I pretty much became a shut-in, locked myself in my home for about 2 years straight.
Then one day, I was doing Internet research, and I stumbled across Bergin University, a school with a program that helps people train service dogs to overcome their PTSD. So I figured, why not?
During my first week, I was paired with a golden retriever named Hannah. I had to take her everywhere. On our way to school one morning, a car drove past me and flipped me off, because I had been staring into space. That set me off. I was just getting ready to do a very unsafe U turn across four lanes of traffic to chase this guy, and when I caught Hannah’s big brown eyes. It’s like they were staring me in the face saying, “What’s going on? Is this really necessary?” And just like that, I let my anger go.
Before graduation, I got paired with a golden retriever named Chew. He’s been by my side 24/7 for almost a year. And he’s been instrumental in helping me turn my life around. Before, I didn’t want to interact with the real world. I ate junk food all the time. Once I got Chew, it forced me to get out and be active, because the dog needed to be walked. Before, I didn’t want to interact with anyone because, when you’re a vet, people ask really awkward questions like, “Did you kill anybody?” But once I had Chew, people started focusing on him—“Oh that’s a gorgeous dog. What’s his name?”
Now I’m taking what I’ve learned and showing veterans how to train service dogs for physically disabled veterans who truly need them—teaching them how to turn lights on and off, retrieve dropped keys or cell phones, and open doors.
I’ve also started to talk to my kids again. My sons Aidan, 4, and Joshua, 6, love playing with Chew. Joshua actually gave me picture he drew of Chew. That made me feel pretty amazing, better than I’ve felt in a very long time.
—as told to Olivia B. Waxman
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