(WGHP) — There are some things you just can’t explain. You have to experience them. Those deployed in the military and see combat will tell you that.
Dustin Gladwell is a veteran who saw a need for other vets, and he started the non-profit Charlie Mike as a way to do his part to help.
“Charlie Mike means, ‘continue mission’,” Gladwell said. “If the word comes down, Charlie Mike, it means drive on, continue, keep going … The motto is continue the mission of life.”
It can be hard for veterans to find the right kind of companion. Even the best of families sometimes experience the moments when, if you’re not a veteran yourself, there are things you simply can’t relate to. Gladwell thinks that has a lot to do with the painfully high suicide and depression rates veterans continue to experience.
“I think a lot of the reasons veterans struggle and what contributes to the suicide rate is a feeling of loneliness, a feeling of you’re not useful, anymore … What are you going to do with your life? What good am I in the world?” Gladwell said.
Sometimes, a vet just wants a bit of companionship that only a dog can provide. Charlie Mike finds just the right dogs and then trains them for months and then provides them to veterans for free. The dogs usually come from shelters and can train for up to a year.
“With our training, all the basic obedience things we do … We build upon that to another layer deep to give the foundations of what a therapy dog would have, so we want a dog that’s going to be more affectionate, much more non-reactive to negative situations,” Gladwell said.
One dog they recently sent home with a vet is named Starrk.
“Starrk had a great demeanor to start with,” said Sarima Gracia, who runs Charlie Mike along with Gladwell. “He’s one of those dogs that we look for. We try to find those diamonds in the rough in the shelter, those dogs who are very eager to please. He was very happy. Even though he was in a kennel in a shelter environment, he still had that happiness to him.”
Starrk seemed to be perfect for a veteran named Roberto Davila.
“I decided to join the Army … after the 9-11 attack,” Davial said. “I was going to college, but I decided to do something different because I think that it was going to give me something better for a country that helped … my dad bring us into this country legally.”
Charlie Mike dogs come with something of a lifetime warranty as the organization continues to work with the dogs and their new owners for the life of the dog.
But Gladwell doesn’t think Starrk and the Davilas will need much work now that Starrk is home with them.
“As soon as he and the kids started interacting with him, it was almost like you didn’t want to interrupt it,” Gladwell said.
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It can cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to do all the veterinary work and train the dogs, and it’s a challenge for Charlie Mike to pay those bills.
Donations are a big way they make it happen.
See Starrk and his new family in this edition of The Buckley Report.
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