If I drop my phone underneath something that's hard for me to reach, he'll retrieve it for me. He'll help me pull the laundry basket from the service porch into my bedroom, and he carries the groceries inside. For example, if I fall off my wheelchair, I’m able to use Charlie as a support to get myself seated again. He helps me with everyday tasks and obstacles. I think of him more as a partner than a pet. He had begun a foundation which focused on the needs of injured veterans.Īfter graduating my training program at CAMO, Charlie Brown came home with me and has been by my side ever since.
The damage to my body was life-threatening – a complete spinal cord injury.Ībout two years after the injury and after completing my occupation therapy, a family member told me about Mike Lorraine, a professional canine trainer who specialized in service dogs. The next thing I remember, I was waking up in the hospital. I was on active duty and driving back to the base in New London, CT, where I was stationed at the time. That pathway came to an abrupt halt on a snowy Sunday afternoon in Connecticut during my second year in the Navy. First, a career in the Navy, and then afterward, maybe I would open my own dive shop in South Florida. For a Florida boy, it couldn’t get much colder, but the work was pretty exciting and my future seemed set. After graduating from dive school, I was stationed at a naval yard in Groton, Connecticut where I worked on repairing U.S. By the time I was in high school, I began to seriously think about it as a career.Īs soon as I graduated high school, I joined the U.S. I gravitated toward scuba diving, and I was good at it. I grew up in South Florida where everybody does water sports. My story of Charlie Brown began well before our first meeting. It turns out that Charlie Brown didn’t care about any of that. I didn’t want to screw up anything right off the bat. It’s hard to describe the first encounter – I was both nervous and excited. Mike Lorrain, the head of CAMO ( ) and its chief trainer, didn’t waste any time and immediately began my first training session with Charlie Brown. Did I really need the added burden? Photo Credit (all): Marcos Javier GarciaĪs soon as I arrived at the facility, I was introduced to a beautiful, chocolate brown Lab with a funny name. The prospect of now having to take care of a dog when I was still learning to take care of myself seemed daunting. I still was recovering from a traumatic accident that had left me paralysed from the chest down. I was nervous, but determined to see it through, and so I arrived four years ago on a summer day at the farm in South Florida which houses the headquarters and training facilities for Canines Assisting Military Operators, better known as the CAMO Foundation, writes Matt Kleeman. The first day I was to meet Charlie Brown, I felt like the namesake cartoon character about to try another proverbial kick of the football. He says, \"It's hard to develop a real personal philosophy in less than twenty minutes. Lucy shouts, \"That's the most stupid philosophy I've ever heard!\" Lucy walks away and says, \"I can't do anything for someone who has a philosophy like that! You're hopeless, Charlie Brown!\" Charlie Brown lies on the ground dazed. You have to learn to lick it!\" Charlie Brown tumbles backward. Can you do that?\" Lucy says, \"Can you develop a personal philosophy? Think, Charlie Brown! Think hard!\" Charlie Brown says, \"Life is like an ice cream cone. \" Lucy continues, \"You need to develop a philosophy that will carry you through times of stress. \" Lucy says, \"You know what your trouble is, Charlie Brown? You don't have a personal philosophy. \" Charlie Brown says, \"That's very gratifying. Lucy says, \"I've been thinking about your case a lot lately. \""ĭialogue-text,"Charlie Brown sits in front of Lucy's psychiatric booth. "Charlie Brown sits in front of Lucy's psychiatric booth.