BEAR AHEPA
Sponsored by AHEPA Golden Gate District 21
Help District 21 sponsor another dog!
Woof woof! It's Bear here from Camp K9! Just another wonder-fur two weeks training and getting closer to class. Class is a new human term I learned. It means that when I test really well on my service skills I will be placed with my Warrior and train with them for 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks I get a huge graduation with my Warrior, and we go home! I can’t wait for the day to come. In the meantime, I have been doing much better with my fear of weird places and objects. With the help of my trainer and all my new confidence I have been pushing through my fear and understanding that these things are not going to hurt me or be scary. My favorite thing I did this week with my trainer was, of course, visiting parks and the yummy smelling places called restaurants! Another new thing I got to do this week was a trainer transfer. This helps me to practice my service skills with another person so that it will be easier for me to transfer to a Warrior one day. I cannot wait to get started with my new handler and prove my pawesome Service Dog skills! I have been having so many fun adventures with my trainer! I had a very fun day in Saint Augustine – we got to watch dolphins play in the water and I made friends with a tiny chihuahua. I also got to work with several new trainers to help them learn the ropes. I officially know all of my skills and am working hard to practice them in new places. I also got to meet ducks up close and did a dog-gone good job of ignoring them. When I played with my dog friends in the yard this week, I found new play equipment! I have learned how to walk across an A-frame and then I raced around it with my doggie bffs. Puppy love, Bear AHEPA 05/01/2022
Hey friends! Bear AHEPA here checking in from Camp K9! I have been working on many of my service skills in the past week. We were able to practice these skills off campus, too. We visited a lovely park as well as some new restaurants this week. I got to “Make A Friend” with a small family which had a 15-month old daughter. My trainer said I was very sweet. I let her pet me and I got to lick her face! I hope my future Warrior has kids I can lick, too! I enjoyed all the ducks that were walking around the park. My trainer and I worked through some skills and on keeping focus even though I really wanted to play with the ducks. For our grocery store trips, I have been a lot braver about the freezer sections. Though I am still weary the cold is going to get me, my trainer says I am doing very well getting used to working in those areas. Since I am improving so quickly, I get to join other Service Doggos to visit an elementary. 03/08/2022
The 25th Dog of ASDW has officially been named!
02/2022
The District consists of 10 AHEPA Chapters in Northern California and Reno.
We chose the name "Bear" to honor the memory of a young veteran from our Fresno Chapter who unfortunately did not survive PTSD.
Born in 1987 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, he was rough and tumble, loved to climb trees and hike, and loved running around and playing outside.
His nickname was "Bear" and it was always appropriate: when he was a toddler and his shirts didn't quite cover his little round belly;
when he played middle linebacker and every other team in his league was afraid to play his team; and when his two older sisters started dating.
He decided while in high school that he wanted to be a Marine. This led to him joining ROTC at Stony Point High School in Round Rock, Texas.
He graduated in May of 2005 and because he had set his mind to it and didn't waver from that course of action, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on October 2005.
He did several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a mine sweeper with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
He saw things that no 19 or 20-year-old should have to see, and experienced things that most of us don't even see in our nightmares.
Yet he did it until the day he was discharged, on January 2009.
After discharge, he did what he could to make ends meet, while also suffering from severe PTSD as a result of his service in the Marine Corps.
Like many Vets returning from war, he had trouble holding down a job and functioning in society.
Sadly, this means he turned to drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with all that he had seen and been through.
While living in Denver, CO, he was finally officially diagnosed with PTSD in 2016.
He eventually made his way out to Fresno, CA. But because of his addictions, he struggled still.
He found his way to St. George Greek Orthodox Church, where Father Jim Pappas worked with him to get sober, find a place to live, get some job training, and find a job.
He went to school to become an EMT and passed his EMT exam. He attended church at St. George where he served in the altar.
He was attending meetings to keep himself sober and clean.
But the beast of PTSD was always looking over his shoulder. That's not something that you forget.
That's not something you just get over when you're not Active Duty anymore. That's not something that you can fight on your own.
He tried, though. "Bear" tried to fight it, and he did, for a long time. There were many people that helped him when and where they could.
But the real help that he needed, the help that could have possibly saved him, never came.
He was fighting to get treatment for the PTSD that was caused by his service as a Marine. And still the help never came.
And he was fighting too many other fights at the same time. A person can only fight so many things for so long before they feel that they just can't fight anymore.
Rather than keep fighting, he tragically chose to take his own life on March 2018.
We would like to thank our generous donors, individuals and Chapters, for providing the funds to sponsor a dog and help another veteran fight PTSD.
