Thank you to all veterans who serve our country.
My name is Emily Lindus. I am currently writing a book titled “Twenty-Two”. That was the age of my brother, Kenneth E. Smith, when he was killed in Cambodia: http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SmithKE01a.htm that is also the number of veterans that commit suicide every day.
I am writing the stories of Twenty-Two soldiers that are the recipients of service dogs to help their battle with PTSD. My hope is that through these stories, other soldiers in despair and dark places will see that there can be brighter days.
I will share a little of my story. I come from a military family, and most of my life has been involved with soldiers in one way or another. My 8th grade demonstration speech was handing out MIA bracelets of Vietnam Vets so we could watch the news every night in hopes that our soldiers would get to come home. Last year, the Army dedicated a building in my brother’s honor in Fort Hauchuca.
During that ceremony, a buddy of his that served with him came forward and shared some very special stories with us. Until that day, he carried my brother’s obituary in his wallet. He’d lived with the strain of survivor’s guilt since 1970. After our meeting, he tore out the worn, plastic-melded obituary of my brother and gave it to one of my other brothers whom had served in the Army as well. I hope too that when he left, his heart was lifted from survivor’s remorse, because I know my brother would not have wanted that and our family certainly didn’t.
Last summer, I met Ed, Rex, and Dana Abrahamson at the fundraiser for their organization “Soldier’s 6”. It was there that I learned of the number of daily suicides of soldiers. Twenty-Two. I could not get that number out of my head.
As I shared this information with others, they too were shocked. I thought, “Why is this not being talked about?” I felt I just had to do something. My goal is to raise awareness of PTSD, share Twenty-Two stories, include organizations where contributions can be made to help provide service dogs for soldiers with PTSD, and not stop until that number changes from Twenty-Two to ZERO. The cost of a service dog is roughly $10,000.00. I would love to share more of my story and hear yours to possibly include in my book.
Please contact me at Emily@25-8leadership.com.
Soldier’s 6 website: https://www.soldiers6.com/ This is Ed and Dana’s organization that they began after Ed received his battle buddy, Rex, from the organization, Rebuilding Warriors.
Rebuilding Warriors website: http://www.rebuildingwarriors.com
Please consider giving a donation today. I am going to kick it off with my personal $2000.00 donation. Please help me raise awareness and support this great cause. Let’s give a soldier a battle buddy today!