Page 881 - Total War on PTSD

wife was still alive, we would go to counseling and stuff like that. But I really didn't get involved with the VA until after my wife passed and after my first suicide attempt. That's when I truly got involved with the VA. She passed away 13 months after I got out, so that was a really hard time for me. My life changed, I didn't have my job anymore, and I lost my wife...so it was a really hard time.
After that parachute fall I was put in the Wounded Warrior Platoon. I didn't even make it back to my former platoon. That is where I was matched with my first Service Dog Reece. I got him in the end of July, 2010. There was a charitable organization that thought that it would be a good idea for the Soldiers getting ready to come out to have Service Dogs. They paid for the Service Dogs and we were provided with the dogs before we even got out.
There was a period of time, after my wife died, I was living on my own, and I was on the verge of being homeless. Me and Reece would actually share a can of beans a day to keep us both fed. My VA benefits hadn't kicked in yet. It was like that until I finally got my settlement as to what I was receiving. Then we started getting better. But he was always right there with me, my little Soldier. He was always at my side. He also did mobility assistance for me too. Because of my brain injury I would always start veering to my right when I was walking, and it was his job to keep me going in a straight line, which he did by walking on my left side. He did a great job keeping me out of traffic. He did this funny thing with his left ear. It was almost like he had a brain injury. He'd always cock his left ear and everybody just loved It when he did that. It was kind of like it had a little twitch to it. He would do it all the time. It was like, when we were out in public, that he would sit down and then flap his ear, kind of like a greeting to others around us. It was like he wanted attention and he knew exactly how to get it. He was always very well behaved around other dogs. He was just a very loving dog. He had a heart of gold. My whole
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