Anonymous #2

I have been a full-time license police officer in Minnesota since 1998. I became interested in Law Enforcement at a very young age. I was doing a police ride along at the age of 15 and witnessed a one vehicle crash happen right in front of me. I was asked to help and assist the officer I was riding with to help the people trapped in the vehicle. I was hooked. This was the profession for me. From that day forward, I never waivered. Everything I did was to position me for a career in Law Enforcement. I joined the police explorer post where I was extremely active logging over 3,000 hours of ride along time with several departments in the area as well as the state patrol, 3 different sheriff’s offices and 9 different police departments. I also won several awards at the state and national level in police explorers’ competitions. Upon graduation from high school, I joined the Minnesota Army National Guard. My MOS 95B, which, back then was, yep you guessed it Military Police. I served for three years as an MP helping on several natural disasters as well as other crisis situations in MN. In 1996 I went to school at Hibbing Community College and Range Technical College. In 1996 I would also transfer to the Guard Unit in Hibbing and change my MOS to 92Y Unit Supply/Armor. I went on to complete and obtain my AAS Degree in Law Enforcement in 1998. I was fortunate to get a police officer job right out of college in northern MN. I was there for about a year and then took a position in SW MN where I obtained my police K9 partner. A year or so later, the city folded up the department citing LGA cuts from the state of MN. I bounced around for the next few years working in SW MN as well as Central MN. I worked part time and full-time for several different agencies across Minnesota. I left the MN National Guard in 2000 due to the distance and time commitment. In January of 2002, I retired my police dog and allowed her to live her life spoiled as a house dog. She had been an amazing dog. March of 2002 she got a twisted stomach and I was forced to make the tough decision to choose quality of life for my dog over my selfish need to keep her around. She was allowed to cross over the rainbow bridge, and it was by far one of the toughest losses I had ever needed to deal with. In 2009 after a messy divorce and now with an amazing girlfriend who was beyond supportive, I decided to get back into Law Enforcement full time. I took a position with a Tribal Police Department and found the experience eye opening and educational. I learned so much but was also exposed to some pretty traumatic critical incidents that to this day are hard to deal with. In late 2012 I moved back to the metro and in 2013 took as position with a department in the NW Metro that I am still currently employed with. In 2018 I was delt another amazing hand when I discovered I would need to have quadrupedal heart bypass sugary. I feel that my recovery from that has not been 100%. In the past few years, I have been impacted with other trauma events from the Daunte Wright situation where I spent countless hours in Brooklyn Center hearing things said to me that no sane human being would say to another, getting items thrown at me , and feeling the actual impact of what an angry mob feels like. I don’t sleep well at night and still have times I wake up in a pool of sweat. I am currently going though “the process”. I have found that the companionship of my dogs has been an amazing tool in helping me deal with my PTSD. My wife suggested I stop bringing my dog into places I shouldn’t and that if I needed to be bringing her into places with me that we should see some professional training to do it right. I have had some amazing people that have assisted me though this process that I am still currently in and was directed to Ed and Dana. Speaking with them was easy. They get it and they get what I was going through. When Ed told me that Solider 6 was going to help me train my dog, it brought me to tears. There are no words that can express the feeling that there was. This can happen and that help truly is available. I look forward to the process and look forward to sharing more of the journey with those who want to hear about it.