Veteran commenter, a veteran, told a Douglas County meeting that a service dog named Megan saved his life and inspired him to train service dogs for other veterans and ultimately create Connor's Canine Plus.

"Being a veteran and serving in the military is 1 of the highest honors that I could have ever had in my life," the veteran said. He told the meeting he was a patient at Walter Reed for 18 months and participated in an occupational program that taught veterans to train service dogs. He said he was assigned to work with Megan, a dog from Warrior Canine Connection, and that the dog physically prevented him from harming himself: "I attempted to take my own life and the dog actually prevented it by forcing my arm down and I finally just crumbled into the dog and the dog ultimately saved my life."

The veteran described how that experience led him to learn to train service dogs and to work for several organizations before founding Connor's Canine Plus. "If a dog could save my life, I felt like more veterans needed to know that that existed and that was possible and that's what led me down the path of ultimately learning to train service dogs for other veterans, for other people and working for a number of organizations before eventually creating Connor's Canine Plus," he said.

He spoke about the roles service dogs can play for veterans, saying they can help restore purpose and act as a constant companion: "The first way a service dog can help a veteran is by implementing purpose in their life again. From there, Service Dogs is that battle buddy who's always with you. You never have to be alone again."

He concluded by saying that while recognition was an honor, his priority was making resources available to others: "It's an honor to have even been recognized for something like this, but for me it's more so about how this can then help other people realize that resources are available." No formal action or vote was recorded on the item.