BY DEBBIE PAGE
debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com

After serving in the Marines and the Army as a Special Operations soldier for a total of 20 years and suffering a traumatic brain injury after a bomb blast in Iraq, James Hamby found returning to civilian life overwhelming.

“I wouldn’t leave my house because of everything I’d gone through,” said Hamby, who continued his service even after he was injured in an ambush attack in 2004. “I couldn’t even drive down the road without stopping because of trash beside the road, thinking it was going to blow up on me.”

Hamby rarely left the house. His weight ballooned after he left the service and he ceased his daily physical training, which made him feel even worse.

Despite the trauma he suffered, the son, grandson, and nephew of military veterans credits the military with instilling discipline into a somewhat wild young man. “It made me a better person. It leveled me out and disciplined me,” he said.

Hamby loved military life so much that he re-enlisted after leaving the Marines, choosing the Army since the military was downsizing in the late 1990s. Comparing the two branches, Hamby said the Army life was a little more luxurious than the Marines.

COMING BACK TO LIFE

After a year of virtual seclusion, Hamby welcomed a highly trained Golden Retriever puppy named Pokey into his life in 2013.

“When I got him, I got my life back,” he said. “He’s brought me out again. I can go out in public by myself. I’m not worried about things.”

Pokey helps Hamby deal with the trauma he experienced from years of combat exposure as a sniper.

“He’s trained as a psychological service dog. He’s trained for anxiety, PTSD, and things I suffer from the traumatic brain injury.”

When Pokey senses Hamby is spiraling into anxiety, he will pull on Hamby and lay his head on Hamby’s lap after he sits down. He calms Hamby with his presence and “puppy eyes.”

“If I’m upset, he knows it. He’ll comfort me when nobody’s around. He’s helped keep my mental capacity up,” he explained. “I don’t want to think about what my life would be like without him.”

Pokey is also trained to monitor Hamby’s blood sugar to keep his diabetes in check. When Pokey senses a drop, he licks Hamby’s leg to prompt him to check his arm monitor and get some sugar on board.

Pokey has a laid-back personality with a focused work ethic when his service vest is on, though he did enjoy some Frisbee play time when he was younger and off duty.

PLANET FITNESS ‘FAMILY’

Hamby has four grown and married daughters and a 16-year-old son with with wife Diane, along with five grandkids who keep him busy when he’s not doing his frequent workouts at the Statesville Planet Fitness location, which welcomed Hamby, Diane and Pokey to the facility.

Matt Chastain, general manager, enjoys James and Pokey coming to the gym for workouts. “We’ve always welcomed any kind of service animal with opened arms,” he said.

Hamby said Pokey is popular with other workout buffs at the gym. “All the employees at Planet Fitness have been wonderful. When they say they are a judgment free zone, it really is. They welcomed us from day one.”

Getting back in great physical condition has also been important to Hamby’s recovery. “Physically and mentally, it’s amazing what physical fitness can do.”

In July, Hamby completed a USSA Stop Soldier Suicide 250-mile virtual bike ride, logging 290 miles on the gym’s stationary bikes during the month-long event.

POKEY’S RETIREMENT

After nine years of service, the now 10-year-old Pokey is moving a little slower and ready for a well-deserved retirement with a special family at the end of the year. “It’s sad to give him up,” said Hamby.

“I had him for nine years, and he’s a part of the family, but I know he cannot be a service dog forever. He needs time off — he needs to retire.”

As a puppy, Pokey was trained by Patriot Rovers, a now defunct organization that named service dogs after fallen soldiers. “Pokey” was the nickname of Michael Phillips, a 19-year-old soldier from Ardmore, Okla., who was killed in Iraq on February 24, 2008.

Phillips earned his unusual moniker because he liked to poke people as a kid, Hamby said, and the nickname just stuck.

At the end of the year, Pokey will travel to Oklahoma to enjoy his retirement with the fallen soldier’s parents, Dave and Angeline Phillips, whom Hamby has befriended and visited over the years. 

One of Hamby’s daughters also lives in Ardmore now, and the Phillips family helped welcome her family to the area.

Hamby’s new service dog, a Labrador Retriever puppy named Tanner, will finish his training in December or January, at which time Pokey will retire. Service dogs normally retire in another home to avoid confusion and conflict with the new service dog’s presence and taking over his job.

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL SERVICE DOG MONTH

Since September is National Service Dog Month, Hamby wants the public and business owners to understand the importance of support animals to people with a variety of mental and physical conditions.

Hamby has gone to restaurants, hotels and retail establishments that have refused service because of Pokey. “Service animals are not going to bother you. He just keeps his head down. A service animal is trained not to jump up at anyone.”

“A lot of times employers don’t train their employees about service animals like they should.”

Sometimes customers object to Pokey’s presence, but Hamby says that staff members at places he frequents are supportive and diffuse any customer objections and concerns.

REFUSING A SERVICE DOG’S PRESENCE IS ILLEGAL

The American Kennel Club defines a service dog  as one that helps a person with a disability lead a more independent life. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service dog is “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.”

The ADA defines “disability” as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, including people with history of such an impairment, and people perceived by others as having such an impairment.”

The ADA forbids discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications.

Because a service dog is trained to take a specific action that mitigates an individual’s disability, the dog’s “job” is directly related to their person’s disability, so denying services or access to businesses because of a service dog’s presence is illegal.

The ADA considers service dogs to be primarily working animals, not pets.

Service dogs can help the blind and visually impaired individuals navigate their environments. Hearing dogs alert deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to sounds like doorbells and fire alarms.

Mobility dogs assist individuals using wheelchairs or walking devices or who suffer from balance issues. Medical alert dogs might also signal the onset of a seizure or low blood sugar or the presence of life-threatening allergens.

Psychiatric service dogs help people with a variety of disabilities, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, post–traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia,

The ADA also makes a distinction between psychiatric service dogs and emotional support animals (ESA).

For example, if the dog is trained to sense an impending anxiety attack and take a specific action to avoid or lessen attack impact, that dog is considered a service animal.

If its mere presence provides comfort, the dog is not considered a service animal under the ADA.