Trump ends program that pairs service dogs with veterans at Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed.

[Madam45for2923]

Link to tweet

A program that prepares service dogs for permanent placement with wounded veterans and their families has been booted from Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed without explanation, the program's executive director says.

Training is reward-based at Warrior Canine Connection, a program that pairs service dogs with veterans that was recently booted out of Walter Reed and Fort Belvoir. (WTOP/Kate Ryan)


GERMANTOWN, Md. — The Warrior Canine Connection, a program that uses an army of volunteer puppy raisers, dog trainers and veterans to prepare service dogs for wounded veterans and their families, has been partnering with military facilities in the D.C. region since 2009.

But suddenly — and without explanation — that came to a stop, says Warrior Canine Connection Executive Director Rick Yount.

He said his trainers and puppy raisers at Fort Belvoir and at two locations on the campus of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, were told on Oct. 27th to vacate their offices that afternoon.

“At two o’clock in the afternoon, I received a phone call saying there was a stop work order. There was no explanation whatsoever as to why that was the decision,” Yount said.

Asked if there had been an issue with the program, problems with staff or an incident at either of the military sites, Yount said he hasn’t heard anything

https://wtop.com/local/2017/11/program-pairs-service-dogs-veterans-booted-ft-belvoir-walter-reed/slide/1/

[Wounded Bear]

1. Sad...

[crazylikafox]

2. OK. Now he's taking away soldier's puppies????

why?? Actually, a lot of animal lovers would respond to this information.

[global1]

3. This Is Just Plain Cruel....

There's no reason to end this program. Doesn't Trump have one good bone in his body?

[woodsprite]

5. No!

I thought I had read someplace that he doesn't like pets. Probably thinks they're useless, and if taking them away hurts someone, than he's all for it.

[gratuitous]

14. There's a great reason for this - the program started during the Obama administration

And now, just in time for Veterans Day, the Trump administration is going to end it. MAGA!

[renate]

4. in fairness to Trump, he's not named as the reason for the program's cancellation

They say they don't know why it was cancelled--it could be someone lower down.

Or maybe it's him after all. I'm certainly not saying it would surprise me. Whoever did it, it was an absolutely heartless thing to do.

[Little Star]

6. I despise Trump! He's such a asshole!!!! grrrrrr

[Blue_Adept]

7. Getting government out of everything!

This has long been their dream. I'm just surprised they aren't just shredding it at a faster rate because of the ironclad support base he has.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Oh, I'm sure some kind of private enterprise or investor will step forward and continue the program.

Let's let the free market do its work and support something that clearly has value in the form of a huge profit margin!

[MoonRiver]

9. SCUM in chief

[smirkymonkey]

10. That bastard! This is just pure cruelty!

[Achilleaze]

11. republicans pissing again on America's veterans

Freaking republicans - and their ignoble Draft-Dodger-in-Chief, Comrade Casino - never miss an opportunity to piss on America's veterans, POWs, or Gold Star families. Sick and sad.

[Madam45for2923]

12. Anyone who says that the 2 parties are the same is lying & has an agenda.

[syringis]

13. That toxic garbage !!

Any dignity, any compassion, what a hateful human being !

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Warrior Canine Connection web site

I don't find any specific reference that says this program has been defunded. If it has, I'm sure that will come out in the news, and the WTOP people are on it.

Warrior Canine Connection
See: http://warriorcanineconnection.org/

(snip)
In 2011, Warrior Canine Connection was founded to expand the availability of this therapeutic service dog-training program to DoD and VA medical treatment facilities throughout the country, and to conduct research to establish this model as an evidence-based therapy for PTS and TBI.

(see more in the "How We Help Warriors" section, then see "Program History".

[haele]

16. I'm wondering if it could be costcutting.

Associated with the fact that identifying criteria for what defines a service animal is rather subjective - there is no "shall exhibit this behavior at all times to this level of Sigma" - or heck - "will never bite and will always be attentive with proper maintenance".
Someone up the chain who handled the base budget didn't see enough value in the training and delivery of service animals without a clear, defined metric that could be used as a deliverable, so s/he decided to pull the plug on the program. Despite the "improved funding of our military", most of the money doesn't make it to the bases or a lot of the existing programs that aren't whiz-bang "War-fighting" in nature (Ghods, I hate that term - Rumsfeldian at its worse) or otherwise shuffles away lots of money to MIC and associated capital fund organizations.

All the DoD programs I work on currently require some sort of definable measurable financial benefit to maintain funding, and that's playing havoc with programs that provide more subjective process improvement, an environment for innovation, or supports processes. Bean Counters don't consider "improves working conditions" or "makes the process easier" as a measurable outcome.

Either that, or the C.O. found dog poop on the law outside his window, and decided that was it for the program, because they're not picking up after themselves efficiently enough.

Haele

[Hortensis]

17. This probably is NOT Trump, but the anti-tax/anti-government

so-called "libertarian*" billionaires who are determined to destroy all government programs except a few they need to protect person and property.

Trump is such a dysfunctional weakling, knowing no one to appoint, that they were able to use him to put THEIR people in high offices, where they act as termites destroying government structures from within, like this little thing x thousands.

This has the signature of extreme libertarian ideology all over it. Libertarians make a religion out of personal freedom. Virtually no taxes, almost no regulations, NO responsibility to others, just enough government to protect person and property. Complete self reliance is their shiny goal (works fine for them). So of course, if a vet wants a dog, he's free to get himself one. No one should be required to give up their personal freedom to pay for it.

* "So-called" because many who claim to be libertarian are no doubt just greedy, selfish, callous, hard-core conservatives hiding behind in-style libertarian excuses. Notably, survival of the strong does not offer a dependable mechanism for the protection of fortunes in hand, much less as they pass from generation to generation. Fascism does, though, and authoritarian conservatives and fascism go together like thugs and guns.

[DrDan]

18. why do you say Trump ended the program . . . I did not see that in the article