Nonconventional NCO raises morale, helps reduce stress

Courtesy Photo | Spc. Christopher Clemmens, an operations assistant with the Task Force Marne G-3, and Sgt. Candice Kerns, an operations noncommissioned officer with G-3, play with Sgt. 1st Class Albert, the 85th Combat Stress Clinic's therapy dog, during one of his visits to the task force headquarters. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Johnathon Jobson, TF Marne Public Affairs.)  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IRAQ

06.12.2010

Courtesy Story

United States Division-North

By Sgt. Johnathon Jobson, TF Marne Public Affairs

Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq – Whether personal or work related, everyone deals with stress during deployments. The 85th Combat Stress Clinic’s mission is to help Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines deal with this stress and keep their “mental edge.”

While the 85th CSC provides standard counseling services, they also have some more nonconventional therapy approaches, namely Sgt. 1st Class Albert.

Albert is not a normal noncommissioned officer; he walks on four legs and has a wet nose. Albert is a 3 year-old golden Labrador retriever, and is the 85th CSC’s therapy dog.

Together with his handlers, primarily Pfc. Carolina Ruiz and Spc. Andre Mailhot, both behavioral health specialists with the 85th CSC, Albert helps alleviate stress felt by servicemembers within U.S. Division – North.

“He is here for stress therapy,” said Ruiz, a Victoria, Texas, native. “He has had a great turnout that I can see. People will come in just to see him, not even making an appointment to see a specialist.”

While Mailhot, who is a native of Running Springs, Calif., and Ruiz are the main people who work with Albert, they are not the only ones. He goes out on missions with many different members of the 85th Combat Stress Clinic.

As Albert is in the middle of the second of his back-to-back tours in Iraq, he spends most of his time at the clinic, either roaming around the building soaking up all of the attention he can get or sitting in on therapy sessions with Ruiz.

“He often just lies down in the office next to a patient I am working with,” Ruiz explained. “The patients will just sit and pet him while they are talking to me.”

Albert also goes out on missions around Contingency Operating Base Speicher and to other bases within USD-N. He even has his own ear and eye protection and boots for travel by helicopter.

“We take him with us when we go out to assess units,” said Mailhot. “Sometimes a unit will request that we bring him to their location, other times we just take him with us anyway. We also regularly take him to the combat support hospital to visit with patients there.

“While we are visiting units, we will tell Albert to ‘make friends.’ At this command he will roam around the room and visit with everyone. With many people you can visibly see them become more at ease and less stressed.”

Even though Albert’s primary mission is to help alleviate stress, he is also part of a larger mission. He is part of a study being conducted by Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“The study is being headed by the Occupational Therapy branch at Walter Reed and it focuses on the effectiveness of animal assisted therapy,” explained Staff Sgt. Darius Cox, the noncommissioned officer in charge for the 85th CSC and a Nyack, N.Y., native.

“When I was here two years ago they had the first two therapy dogs here, and since then they have continued the research to decide whether or not to continue the program and possibly increase the number of therapy dogs in theater.”

• Date Taken: 06.12.2010
• Date Posted: 06.12.2010 04:46
• Story ID: 51283
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IQ