“According to the CRS, there have been a total of 128k+ of deployed veterans between 2000-2014 diagnosed with PTSD.”

“On average, 22 veterans a day commit suicide with mental health issues directly related to deployments previously served.”

“Prescription drug treatments for PTSD often times serve to drive up the number of mental health related suicides among veterans per a study commission by the U.S Senate VA committee.”

These are just a few terrifying and tragic facts surrounding the hardships our own soldiers face when coming home from active duty. Leaving one battle in a distant land, only to have to fight another one in your home is a sad reality for many of our veterans. In some ways, the second battle is often undertaken alone, and it can be overwhelming. You can’t shoot at depression or be airlifted away from it.

Doctors prescribe medications but too often this doesn’t help and only serves to make the problem worse. There’s therapy but sometimes it just doesn’t get through. So, what can be done for our veterans suffering from PTSD? What other road is there to take?

(photo credit: Cheslea Schism, Daily Signal)

Enter Cole Lyle, a young veteran Corporal in the Marines from Texas.

He himself suffers from PTSD, which made itself apparent when he returned home from Afghanistan after 8 months of deployment. During a Texas Rangers game, he immediately dropped and covered his head with his arms when they set off fireworks after the National Anthem. It was a solid indication that though Lyle was home safe in body, he wasn’t in mind.

It wasn’t long before he was on medications to help him cope, but they were coming up short in terms of helping him overcome the fight. That was when he was told that a service dog was his last option and, as Lyle has said after meeting his service dog, he wonders why it wasn’t the first one.

After a bit of training and $10,000 of his own money later, Kaya, Lyle’s service dog, entered his life and changed it forever.

I recently had the pleasure of spending time with Cole and Kaya while I was in DC. Whenever you see Cole in articles or on TV, he’s dressed smartly in a suit. On that night, however, he was dressed in cowboy boots, jeans and a red polo – Texas garb. He was tired, as any Texan is when in DC too long, but there was a hop in his step because he and Kaya had been demolishing barriers with Lyle’s PAWS Act.

He told me all about the Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers Act, which would provide service dogs to soldiers suffering from severe levels of PTSD. Currently, dogs are not provided to soldiers except through non-profit organizations – or in this capacity, through the VA. That’s what Lyle and Kaya are trying to fix.

During the day we spent in DC, Kaya went everywhere with Lyle. A very sweet and even-tempered dog, Kaya was a hit wherever we went and it was easy to see how such a dog that could uplift the spirits of everyone she met would have such a positive effect on Lyle. By the time he and Kaya left for home that night, I was a believer. Truth be told, I was a believer the moment I met Kaya.

Lyle recently agreed to answer some questions for EveryJoe to tell us more about PAWS and what it’s like to be a veteran benefiting from the companionship of a service dog.

EveryJoe: As a veteran, what are some of the battles you face off of the battlefield? Can you give us an idea of what it is vets like yourself have to deal with on a day-to-day basis?

Cole Lyle: When veterans in the last 15 years have transitioned from Iraq and Afghanistan, they’ve faced a multitude of issues. Post Traumatic Stress can be a daunting obstacle to overcome that is only exacerbated by things like relational issues with loved ones, returning to normal work or school, etc. On a day-to-day basis, veterans dealing with PTS can experience sudden mood swings, nightmares that cause sleep deprivation, flashbacks and anxiety attacks. All of which have the ability to deter a veteran from resuming a normal everyday life.

EJ: What is it about your dog, Kaya, that makes dealing with these issues easier? What makes Kaya so special?

CL: Kaya is specifically trained to recognize when I’m having a nightmare and she jumps up in bed to wake me up. She also senses stress patterns in my voice and will lick my hand to remind me to calm down, effectively breaking the snowball effect of anger or depression. This training takes time and money that only a certified service dog can provide.

EJ: Tell us how the PAWS Act began and what inspired you to fight so hard for it?

CL: PAWS was started when a Senator stopped me to talk about Kaya on the street outside of a Senate office building, and we talked about the VAs lack of coverage for these dogs that helps veterans specifically with PTS. It was at that point I realized that if he was willing to listen, there was no reason more members of Congress wouldn’t and this could be a legitimate policy solution. I started meeting with members of Congress to see who would be interested and Congressman DeSantis stepped up eagerly.

PAWS is important to me, and I think it will benefit all veterans, because Kaya worked so quickly and so powerfully for me, and especially because I’ve had friends commit suicide as a result of PTS where symptoms were exacerbated by pills. I don’t disparage all other methods of treatment, and we’re not trying to give every veteran with PTS a service dog, but we want to have that option available when veterans feel other traditional treatments aren’t working. Just as we want to give our military every weapon available to fight America’s enemies, we want to give veterans every weapon to fight their own internal enemies.

EJ: Has anyone in the veteran community reached out to you with similar stories about their dogs? If so, how often? Are there any you could tell us in particular?

CL: Since the bill was introduced last week, I have veterans reaching out to me in person on Texas A&M’s campus, on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. every single day telling me how their service dogs have assisted them, or that their regular dogs (which they have because service dogs were too cost prohibitive since the VA doesn’t provide them) have helped in some way alleviate their symptoms.

EJ: If you could get a message out to vets suffering with PTSD, and are desperately looking for answers, what would you tell them?

CL: Put the gun on safe. Stick around for another day, and just talk to someone. Anyone. It’ll help take the edge off. Then, get in touch with a veterans group like GoRuck, Irreverent Warriors, 1st CivDivWarriors Foundation, or some group of people that can relate to what you’re going through. They can help you get to the resources you need in the long term.

EJ: Kaya goes around with you everywhere at all times. Do you have any fun stories to tell us about your adventures together?

CL: Kaya is a professional. There are very few times I’ve had to rein her in for breaking concentration. Usually it’s other humans I have to remind she’s a working dog.

We went to a meeting with a U.S. Senator late one afternoon, and you could tell it had been a long day. The Senator looked tired and worn out. We walked into his office with a staff member, and I started to give my pitch for PAWS. Before I got too far into it, the Senator was sitting on the floor with Kaya in his lap, more or less cuddling and definitely not paying attention to what I was saying at the time, so I just let it ride. Five minutes later, the Senator gets up with a massive smile on his face and says, “Thank you, I definitely needed that today. You don’t have to sell me on PAWS, I think it’s a great idea and clearly if it works for me on days like today it’ll work for guys like you.”

That was the moment I knew Kaya was a better lobbyist that I could ever be, and that even some of the most powerful men and women in the world need the love of a furry companion sometimes.

If you’d like to more about the PAWS Act, or would like to help, visit its website here.

@SteveDoocy @ainsleyearhardt thnx for having Kaya and I on w/ @RepDeSantis to discuss #PAWSAct on @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/YxQBcodcGZ — Cole Lyle (@lyle_cole) March 17, 2016

Photos via Twitter

Hailing from Austin, Texas, Brandon Morse has been writing about politics and culture across many websites for the last six years, with a heavy emphasis on anti-authoritarianism. Aside from writing articles, he is also known for voice acting and authoring scripts. He is an avid gamer, dog person, and has a bad habit of making vague references to things no one has heard about or seen. Follow him at @TheBrandonMorse on Twitter.

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