WCC Service Dog Archives - Warrior Canine Connection

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Governor Moore Honored with Namesake of Service Dog in Training

May 26, 2023

Service Dog in Training “Wes” to Impact the Lives of Service Members and Veterans

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – Governor Wes Moore has received a great new honor—that of namesake to “Wes,” a service dog in training at Warrior Canine Connection, a nonprofit based in Boyds, Md. WCC’s namesake program was designed to recognize the great men and women, both past and present, who have selflessly served our country.

Governor Moore accepted the namesake honor, after being nominated for the opportunity by Secretary Anthony Woods, Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. Last week, “Wes met Wes” at WCC’s 80-acre farm property in Boyds, Md. In addition to Governor Moore, his son, James, members of his office, along with Secretary Woods, and other state officials were in attendance.

“When you have one dog that’s serving a group of Veterans, it’s like what happens in our units—one person is working and serving whole collections of others—that’s the brotherhood, that’s the bond, that’s the connection,” said Governor Moore. “I am truly honored by the fact that we’re going have one of our canine battle buddies with my name on it.”

WCC’s namesake program is meant to honor the legacies of those who have served our country.

“Service dog in training Wes is the perfect namesake addition to our pack,” said Rick Yount, founder and executive director, Warrior Canine Connection. “As a Veteran himself, Governor Moore is tremendously committed to his fellow Veterans and their families in our great state. This is a huge honor for us, and we look forward to watching puppy Wes grow up as he works alongside dozens and dozens of Veterans, all whose lives he’ll impact along the way, before being placed with a Veteran or military family. Puppy “Wes” certainly has big shoes to fill, being named after an incredible Veteran who puts all of his heart into his service as Governor of Maryland.”

A nonprofit, WCC breeds, trains and places highly skilled service dogs with service members and Veterans with visible and invisible wounds. WCC uses a training program called Mission Based Trauma Recovery, whereby it enlists Service Members and Veterans in recovery to help train future service dogs for their fellow Warriors. In doing so, they can also benefit from therapeutic aspects of the program including increased impulse control, sleep and emotional regulation, as well as decreased stress levels, depression and hypervigilance.

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Media Contact:
Beth Bourgeois
Warrior Canine Connection
719-216-3206
beth.bourgeois@warriorcanineconnection.org

Colonel Ken Nance to be Inducted into the U.S. Army OCS Hall of Fame

April 27, 2021

This May, the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School will honor 29 new members into its Hall of Fame. Colonel Ken Nance is among the list of those who will be inducted for this prestigious honor.

Annual inductions are based on accomplishments that include superior valorous combat leadership, superior meritorious service, as well as public- and life-long service to their community and nation. National notable members included in the OCS Hall of Fame are Bob Dole, former Senator from Kansas and presidential candidate; Winthrop Rockefeller, politician; Casper Weinberger, Secretary of Defense; General Tommy Franks, Central Command Commander; and Major Dick Winters from “Band of Brothers”.

Ken grew up in Tippah County, Mississippi, graduated from Falkner High School, then studied at both Mississippi State University and Western Illinois University. He went on to serve in both the Reserve and Active Components with almost 29 years of combined service, including five enlisted as a tank crewman and 24 as a commissioned Engineer Officer. Within that career, he had five combat deployments with almost four cumulative years in combat theaters.

Colonel Nance’s most recent military service with the Transatlantic Division (TAD), headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, with USACE theater engineering responsibility for the Central Command Area of Responsibility, from 2016–2019. The positions served were Deputy Commander (Forward), Transatlantic Afghanistan District – Deputy Commander and TAD -Deputy Chief of Staff (G3).

“It’s an incredible honor and a culmination of this career that has helped shape me into who I am today,” said Ken Nance. “I didn’t want to retire, I honestly fought as hard as I could to stay in but due to my injury, I simply couldn’t perform any longer, so I retired five years early.”

During his most recent deployment to Afghanistan in 2017, Ken’s heart stopped causing him to lose consciousness. He fell a distance, broke his jaw, sustained a traumatic brain injury, and lost most of the use of his left foot. He spent more than eight months at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center undergoing four facial reconstruction surgeries, implanted prosthetic jaw and facial bones, lower leg nerve surgery, and receiving an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Ken then spent three months at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) trying to retrain his brain and body.

While at NICoE, the idea of a service dog was presented to him. Ken says it was an idea he had not even considered. “At that time, I was focused on full recovery and really did not even explore the idea. Little did I know at the time, what a valuable source of recovery a service dog could provide.”

Ken was later transferred to Fort Benning to continue therapy and medically retired from the Army in September 2019.

“I am still going through recovery,” said Ken. “It’s tough going from functioning at a senior level in the military accustomed to a high operational tempo to being dependent on my wife and my family in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It has been a difficult road; however, I am thankful for life. I know everyone’s life journey has difficulties, so it’s not to say mine is any more challenging.”

Ken’s name may be familiar to those in Warrior Canine Connection’s circle, as Ken has WCC’s Sully, a service dog who serves as a vital part of his continued recovery. The duo was paired in July 2020 and has been inseparable since.

“Sully makes a huge, huge difference,” said Ken. “He is with me all the time. I need stabilization assistance quite a bit, and of course, he’s a pretty big dog, so that’s one of his strong suits. Sully very quickly learned my routines, so he knows both my normal routine and my mannerisms. He senses if I’m even needing assistance and before I even make the command, ‘brace’ he’s in position ready to brace; it’s like he’s reading my mind.”

Sully has made himself quite comfortable at the Nance household and has brought a lot of joy to Ken and his family’s lives. Their home is on 20 acres outside Olive Branch, Miss., so Sully gets plenty of time to romp in the yard and the pond.

Even though time has passed, Ken says retired military life is still an ongoing adjustment. He recalls fondly the teamwork, mission focus, and ultimately serving this nation in a capacity that is bigger than oneself.

“It’s almost comical, the first three years of my enlistment, I was determined I would get out at the end of my initial term,” said Ken. “Ironically, twenty-nine years later, I was pushing with determination to stay in!”

It was the Army that provided the structure, education and challenges that Ken craved—and it’s where he excelled.

“The Army assisted me with completing both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees,” said Ken. “It gave me leadership opportunities and surrounded me with the best of the best from American society— those willing to serve our great nation.”

Despite his detoured career and daily challenges, Ken is thankful for all the Army gave him, and he’s honored for his upcoming OCS Hall of Fame induction.

This year’s induction ceremony will take place at Fort Benning on May 17.

Please join us in congratulating Ken on this tremendous honor!

Dogs Making a Difference: Ryan & Luke

May 30, 2019

Ryan Garrison is many things to many people. He’s a husband to beloved wife, Julie. A father of two. Retired U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant E5. And most recently, a college graduate; this spring, Ryan completed his degree in organizational leadership from Wright State University. And soon, he will be the president of a nonprofit he’s launching to help Veterans like himself.

Ryan Garrison enlisted in the U.S. Air Force right after watching the Twin Towers fall on 9/11. He was a self-described “floundering” fifth-year senior in college working on his third major at the time and was planning on joining the Reserves, but that fateful day compelled him to change his course. He dropped out of school to enlist in the Air Force, where he served until 2016, including three deployments.

Ryan comes from a family steeped in military tradition: his grandfather was in World War II; his other grandfather — Vietnam; his brother is a Master Sergeant E7 in the Air Force; his uncles and cousins have all served in different branches of the Armed Forces. So, the career move felt like a natural fit for Ryan, only it was shorter lived than originally planned.

In 2006, Ryan was in Iraq working on the flight line. He was working on the K-loader, essentially a cargo lift, and while inspecting the load, a sheep farmer who had been paid by local insurgents, ran up and shot an RPG over the fence, which hit the K-loader and the blast was so hard, it blew Ryan off the vehicle. He sustained serious injuries, including fractured and torn disks in his back, which have resulted in numerous surgeries, chronic pain and anxiety.

His wife, Julie, who, at the time, was a music therapist at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), suggested Ryan explore getting a service dog. Ryan says he saw fellow Veterans there helping to train service dogs, as well as how WCC service dog Cadence had impacted his friend Rod and his family for the better, so he decided to apply for a dog through WCC.

“I wanted to find another way to deal with the issues I was going through, so I learned a lot about the service dog program,” said Ryan. “I learned all I could, but it wasn’t until I witnessed others with the dogs firsthand that I really realized their power.”

Enter Luke, a handsome black Lab and trained mobility service dog. He was paired with Ryan in 2016 and the two have been virtually inseparable ever since.

“I really can’t say enough about what Warrior Canine Connection and my service dog Luke have done for me,” said Ryan. “Thanks to Luke, my anxiety is under control, I’ve significantly decreased the medication I take, and he’s really helped me with my mobility. It’s not just that though — since being matched with Luke, I have a whole different outlook on life — a positive one.”

Garrison’s wife, Julie, couldn’t agree more. She says Luke isn’t just man’s best friend, but a member of their family, and that their two sons, Mitchell and Maxwell, simply adore him.

“He’s [Luke] just like one of my children… sometimes it’s a toss–up for who listens the best, sometimes it’s Luke, somethings it’s Mitchell, and sometimes it’s Maxwell,” said Julie. “Although, as great as he is, I don’t always trust him with unsupervised food (laughter). His [Ryan’s] dry wit that I fell in love with years ago has returned. It’s just joyful now — because of that soft presence of Luke.”

In fact, Ryan says his experience with Luke and Warrior Canine Connection partially inspired his next challenge — Valor Therapeutics, a nonprofit he and Julie will soon be launching to serve active duty Service Members, Veterans and first responders in Dayton, Ohio and the surrounding area. They plan to provide alternative forms of therapy to individuals who’ve seen and experienced trauma, such as music, art and movement therapies.

“I was inspired by my experience with Warrior Canine Connection,” said Ryan. “To receive a service dog at no cost to me, with no expectations of me and it was a stress-free process… we want to provide something similar to Veterans through our nonprofit.”

Ryan adds that he one day hopes to add a therapy dog to the offerings that Valor Therapeutics will provide.

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