Retired Air Force Lt. Col. and Chaplain Patrick Genseal knows firsthand how service dogs impact and can help save veteran's lives.
He recently shared his emotional story about the trauma he experienced while deployed to Iraq and the emotional scars he still carries years later, on the nationally syndicated radio show and podcast CBS Eye on Veterans .
Genseal told EOV host Phil Briggs that he ran from his call to the ministry “forever.” He originally wanted to be an Air Force pilot, but found out he was too tall and wore glasses. He decided to sneak into the service by a back door and go in as a doctor.
“For some reason, my brain wasn’t wired to understand chemistry, so I quit school and got a job driving a truck,” he said.
Genseal was listening to a Willie Nelson song one day while on the road.
“All of a sudden, the radio noise stopped, the whine of the tires stopped and I heard a voice saying you know what I want you to do,” he said. “And I knew what I was supposed to do.”
Following seminary, Genseal went on to pastor two rural churches, including one in Iowa that had a Civil Air Patrol squadron as a neighbor. Genseal became the squad’s chaplain and began working his way up through the ranks. He was then asked if wanted to join the Air Force’s active duty ranks, said yes, and was initially sent to Vandenberg Air Force Base and would later deploy to Iraq for eight months, where he was the only chaplain on station.
“I was on call 24/7, my radio never got turned off, I slept with one ear open just to hear if any calls came in, anything that ever happened,” he said. “Folks got blown up, folks got shot, folks got sick, folks killed themselves. My radio went off. I reported to the ER and stood there and watched the medical folks work on these folks.”
Genseal recalled a cross being pulled out of the pocket of a service member who killed himself.
“It still sticks with me to see that,” he said.
Genseal said the entire base turns out for a dignified transfer ceremony, led by a chaplain, when someone dies in what is known as an Area of Responsibility.
“I did way too many of those, to the point towards the end of my tour as I was standing there looking at that flag-draped transfer case I started to see an image of myself,” he said. “That’s when I knew I needed help.”
Genseal said chaplains have what’s called privileged communication with those who come to them for care and can not share with anyone what is said but remain in his mind.
“Dealing with the guys as they are hosing blood out of their Humvee because they just brought their buddy in, dealing with parents or spouses of someone who has killed themselves or was killed in the AOR, they are all there,” he said.
Genseal said he is re-wounded by those invisible wounds four or five times each week and has wondered why post-traumatic stress and anxiety are such a part of his life.
“There is no answer,” he said. “That’s what faith is. Faith is believing when there is no answer. That is what gets me through.”
Three years ago Genseal and his wife were walking through the Missouri State Fair and happened to see a Retrieving Freedom booth. They visited the fair the next day and she suggested he look into getting a service dog for himself.
“She pulled out the mom card and got the kids involved,” he said.
Genseal found himself in training to get a service dog from Retrieving Freedom. He said the light bulb for him turned on when he had to miss a week of training because the trainer could not be there.
“I sat at my house going I miss my dog therapy,” he said. “This really makes the difference. It allowed me to be awe-inspired by this furry friend.”
Genseal’s “furry friend” is June, “a small little gift from God and what a powerful impact she makes on my life.”
June senses when Genseal is stressed and will stay close to him.
“She’s so in tune that it’s scary sometimes,” he said. “She knows I’m starting to freak before I know I’m starting to freak.”
Genseal said for him the icing on the cake came last February during a visit with his daughter in Alaska. During the visit, Denseal’s daughter pulled her mother aside and said “my dad’s back.”
Dog trainer Zack Dewey founded Retrieving Freedom in 2012 after he learned that several of his military veteran friends needed service dogs.
“Today, 12 years later, we’ve got 154 dogs placed in teams in 20 states, 83 of those are with veterans, 61 with families who have children on the autism spectrum,” said Retrieving Freedom CEO Brandon Butler. “We have five facility dogs and 24 veterans are on our waiting list.”
The process to get a service dog from Retrieving Freedom is about two years long, from the time an application is made, getting approved, becoming a part of the program and going through what Butler called a “very thorough training.”
Retrieving Freedom is also accredited through Assistance Dogs International, which means the Department of Veterans Affairs covers the dog, Butler said.
To learn more about Retrieving Freedom, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com
Reach Phil Briggs at Phil@connectingvets.com .
Local News
