By Chris Bowers
Editor's note: This blog was updated on Oct. 16, 2024.
The call came from our friend, Margarida, a Spotsylvania Sheriff’s deputy and former Marine. Our county’s oldest living veteran, 104-year-old Fred Moufang, had begun... Read More
It’s hard for me to put into words what it means to see Axel’s story in print (ironic as that may be).
I’ve always thought the story of the service dog who saved my life would make an inspiring book. A German shepherd rescued from an... Read More
By Karen Meadows
My eyes landed on the yellow lab lounging next to the checkout counter at the local feed store I regularly visited.
Weeks before, on a brilliant September morning, I’d been working on our family farm when someone flipped on the... Read More
Our service dog candidates have been training hard here at Leashes of Valor this summer! They've attended golf tournaments, community meet-and-greets, and fundraisers. And when the weather got hot, our trainers took them indoors: They practiced... Read More
By Elizabeth Haag
It was supposed to be a celebration dinner.
My 22-year-old husband was home from war after six excruciating months during which we’d had virtually no contact.
We headed to a restaurant with friends—fellow Marines and their... Read More
By Mike Betts
Memorial Day used to be just another holiday. Then I served in the U.S. Marine Corps. The change wasn’t overnight. But as another Memorial Day approaches, I find myself seeking solitude and personal challenges—striving to do... Read More
The stars seem to shine brighter in the desert. Even in war. Perhaps especially in war. I still remember the way they flung across the vast sky as we rolled across the line of departure into Iraq in the early morning hours of March 20,... Read More
Andrew and I called ourselves “nub buddies.” We met at Walter Reed around the time we both received our prosthetics. After more than a year of limb salvage, endless doctor appointments, and a mountain of pills, the doctors decided to amputate,... Read More
By Christopher Bowers
Hidden wounds take the longest to heal. Of course, we know this. It’s why we founded Leashes of Valor more than six years ago. But knowing a thing — being certain of it — cannot prepare you for losing a friend to the... Read More
By Jason Haag
Turn on the TV.
It was barely 6 a.m. on the West Coast when the phone shattered the early morning quiet—Dad calling from back home in Virginia.
I’d just come off a 48-hour shift at Camp Pendleton, my first duty station as a... Read More
