Horseheads veteran gets PTSD help from service dog
Mike Wesneski, of Horseheads, saw combat during the Vietnam War, and suffered for years afterward with posttraumatic stress disorder — through three marriages and multiple jobs.
Then Wesneski met John, and his whole world changed.
John isn’t a therapist. He’s a dog, a yellow Labrador retriever to be exact. But he isn’t just any dog.
John was specially trained by an organization known as America’s VetDogs to help veterans such as Wesneski — who are struggling with combat-related physical and emotional issues — find a sense of normalcy again.
“I can’t expound enough how great this program is,” said Wesneski, 77. “Having (John) has changed my life totally.”
Vietnam vet struggled after return home
Wesneski was born in Blossburg but grew up in Elmira.
When he was 17, his parents told him they didn’t have the money to send him to college, so he got their permission to join the U.S. Navy, even though he wasn’t yet of age, knowing with the Vietnam War raging he would probably be drafted anyway when he turned 18.
Wesneski joined the Navy in 1964 to see the world, but what he mostly saw was fierce combat while serving on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam.
In one circumstance, his ship was hit by shells fired from shore and started taking on water. For a terrifying instant, Wesneski thought he and others were going to die.
“There were no fatalities, but it was very unnerving,” he said. “I intended to stay (in the Navy) for 20 years. When I was 21, I got out. I came home and told my parents I wasn’t going to do anything for a couple months.”
Back in the states, Wesneski was thousands of miles from the horrors of war, but the psychological damage came home with him. Sudden sounds, or even people walking up undetected behind him could send him into a panic.
“The PTSD manifested over time,” said Wesneski, who added like many returning Vietnam veterans, he was greeted with hostility by many people who opposed the war. “Other people talk about combat like it was a walk in the park,” he said. “For me, it’s not. It’s affected my life for 50 years.”
Using dogs to give troubled veterans a second chance
After World War II ended, the Guide Dog Foundation was established to provide trained dogs and training at no cost to veterans returning from the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.
In 2003, the foundation created a new affiliated organization — America’s VetDogs — to help cope with a greater need for service dogs for aging veterans and those returning from recent conflicts. In 2006, America’s VetDogs became a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, but the two organizations continue to share staff and other resources.
America’s VetDogs, headquartered in Smithtown, New York, trains service dogs to assist veterans across the country with a variety of issues, including physical disabilities, blindness or low vision, and PTSD.
Veterans pay nothing for their canine companions, even though it costs more than $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place just one assistance dog.
Funding for the program comes through donations.
Working with the veterans and the dogs is a rewarding experience, said service dog instructor Maria Nuzzi, especially when she sees how quickly the canines can make a difference.
“We see a huge change in the veterans in such a positive way. They will be sleeping better at night and be less nervous,” Nuzzi said. “When that happens right in front of you, it’s a beautiful thing.”