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Service Dogs Help War Wounded

   New film highlights unique relationship, PTSD, mental illness

   David Byrd | Washington, DC 18 May 2010

   The  U.S.  military  uses  dogs  to  help  troops  on  sentry duty and
   bomb-sniffing  patrols.  But dogs are also proving their worth off the
   field of battle by helping wounded soldiers recover.
   A  new  documentary  focuses on one of these service dogs and the many
   lives he has touched.

   Emmy-award  winning actress Glenn Close produced the piece. She's best
   known  for  her  many  roles  in  film  and  on  television - from the
   obsessive  lover  in  "Fatal  Attraction,"  to her latest role as high
   stake litigator Patty Hewes in the FX television series "Damages."
   But  now Close has taken on the new role of activist. She's focused on
   removing  the  stigma  of  mental  illness. The 22-minute documentary,
   "Pax," is part of her efforts.
   Bill  Campbell,  an  Iraq  war  veteran,  says Pax helps him cope with
   symptoms of PTSD.

VOA - D. Byrd

   Bill  Campbell,  an  Iraq  war  veteran,  says Pax helps him cope with
   symptoms of PTSD.

   Making a difference 
   Bill  Campbell,  an Iraq war veteran with a 100 percent disability due
   to  concussive  brain  injury,  received  a  beautiful yellow Labrador
   called Pax.
   Pax  was trained by Lori Kellogg at Bedford Hills Women's Correctional
   Facility.  The  fact  that Pax came into Bill Campbell's life made his
   life once again possible.

   Close lives near the New York state prison, and volunteered there with
   a  writing  rehabilitation  program. Bedford Hills is also home to the
   nonprofit  Puppies  Behind  Bars,  in  which  inmates  raise and train
   service  dogs. One of its programs is called Dog Tags, specifically to
   assist wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
   Glenn  Close  says  when she learned that Sergeant Bill Campbell - the
   first  veteran  to receive a Dog Tag dog - was returning to the prison
   to  meet  the  inmate who trained Pax, she had to capture that moment.
   There  wasn't  time  to  hire  a  film  crew so she and her assistant,
   filmmaker  Sarah  Harvey,  grabbed  their  personal  video cameras and
   headed to the prison.
   "We  just  were  there  and  we  just did it. We had basically no huge
   plan,"  says  the actress. "But then it became so affecting and really
   important  as  far as recognizing a wounded veteran like Bill Campbell
   and  the dog that really has saved him and the inmate that trained the