Brick Army Veteran Receiving Service Dog Sunday During Fundraiser

BRICK, NJ — A U.S. Army veteran from Brick Township will be receiving a service dog as part of the centerpiece event of a fundraiser that is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Neptune.

The fundraiser is for the organization Rebuilding Warriors, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that provides highly trained and socialized service/companion dogs to honorably discharged veterans who are suffering from service-related injuries, from amputees to those with traumatic brain injuries to those with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

"These service dogs have proven to be great therapeutic relief for those suffering from the emotional side effects of warfare," the organization said in a news release.

Staff Sgt. Aaron Remsen, a combat medic, will be receiving Service K9 Billy at the event, set for 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Headliner night club in Neptune, said Jeff Mullins, vice president of Rebuilding Warriorsand a resident of the Fords section of Woodbridge.

Remsen served in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, and in 2011 accepted a promotion to staff sergeant with the 254th Regiment in Sea Girt as an official military medical instructor. At the same time, he began working as a corrections officer at the Federal Bureau of Prisons at Fort Dix, according to the biography on the Rebuilding Warriors website. In 2014, however, during SORT team tryout invitation obstacle course, Aaron suffered a training accident, completely rupturing his rotator cuff. He was medically discharged from his positon from his job as a corrections officer and is scheduled for shoulder replacement surgery in July 2017. Remsen, who was honorably discharged from the Army in May 2016, has battled emotional issues resulting from his service for some time, the website said.

While Remsen and Billy will become a team at the fundraiser, Mullins said it also will be a reunion of sorts, with several past recipients of dogs through the Rebuilding Warriors program expected to come to the event to help raise awareness of what the organization is doing. So far, the organization has united more than 40 veterans with service dogs, Mullins said.

"They are coming from all over the East Coast," Mullins said, including Virginia, Maryland, upstate New York and even the relatively nearby Egg Harbor Township.

Rebuilding Warriors was founded in 2012 by Jeff Anderson, a decorated member of the U.S. Army Airborne and Purple Heart recipient. Its goal is provide service dogs to help build the confidence of men and women who have served in the armed forces as they return to society.

"It will become a challenge for the participants to raise and care for these world class animals. The unconditional love given and received by these dogs will teach these warriors to ignore their own self-imposed limitations," Anderson writes on the website.

It costs $11,000 to provide a veteran with a dog, which includes the cost of the dog or puppy (puppies are purchased from reputable breeders, Mullins said), its training, a kennel, the first bag of food and other items, Mullins said. Dogs have been united with veterans all over the country, from Alabama, Texas, Virginia, and Philadelphia just this year alone.

Mullins, who grew up with Anderson, said the two joined the service and followed their separate paths, not seeing each other for 30 years. But when they reconnected recently and Mullins learned what Anderson was doing, he said, he jumped at the opportunity to help.

The fundraiser at the Headliner begins at 4 p.m. The bar is located at 1401 Route 35 South in Neptune.

Photos courtesy of Rebuilding Warriors