Vietnam veteran Richard Pimentel lost most of his hearing and speech in an explosion in Vietnam. Aside from hearing loss, like most Vietnam veterans, he has PTSD. He applied for a Veterans Administration rehabilitation program and was turned down. This was the first impetus for him to remake himself into a world-class speaker and disability rights advocate. On July 19th, Milt Wright, Richard’s long-time friend and business partner, is organizing a Special Celebration of Richard’s remarkable life. Proof that there is HOPE in the face of hopelessness.
Enter Ben Marich, a 100% disabled Marine Vietnam Combat veteran. Ben’s disabilities include PTSD as well as other issues. Ben and two friends from South Carolina formed a 501(c) (3) non-profit in 2022 to build permanent supportive housing for homeless veterans and find and train service dogs to give to Disabled veterans through their program, Paws2Heroes.
The movie about his life is “The Music Within,” available for free on Pluto, Roku, and other sites. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422783/. It is worth watching. I will be sharing updates on our website and my Instagram account, along with videos, as we travel back and forth across the country, in a very short time, to take his puppy to him.
Ben and Richard have been friends for over a decade. Both are battling to help others who have PTSD and other disabilities. Ben and his partners, Tom Lash, a Vietnam-era veteran, and Fred Altman, are giving a trained service dog to Richard.
Many veterans face daily challenges such as anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, or mobility issues. A service dog can step in with timely, trained responses—offering calming physical contact, creating helpful distractions, retrieving medication or dropped items, opening doors, providing balance and stability, or even alerting others in an emergency.
Ben and Richard are both afflicted with PTSD, a BROTHERHOOD that is not desirable yet real.
That brotherhood and Paws2Heroes are going to give Richard his new “life companion” at his celebration. Ben and his wife, Sarah, are driving from Denver to Georgia, where the puppies are being trained, to pick up the puppy and then drive back to Idaho to surprise Richard.
Follow our journey at https://housinghomelessveterans.org/paws2heroes/. Like Richard, we are changing lives every day.