This army veteran had a very heartwarming moment with his therapy dog. It happened when he sat down for an interview with USA Today.

Erick Scott is a tough man, but even the toughest of men are only human.

His services took him to Iraq, and the years he spent deployed changed him.

He was a hero to his country, but it cost him.

His role was as part of the National Guard for sixteen years. That’s a lot of time to see a lot of pain, hardship, and sacrifice. Erick saw his fair share of all three. He’s got some ink on his arm that helps tell the story.

One of his tattoos is a rifle propped up in combat boots, with an empty soldier’s helmet adorning the rifle. He wears it with pride and explains that it’s known as “The soldier’s cross”.

A lot of people like to get tough-guy tattoos with combat gear and firearms, but Erick is one of the few who legitimately lived such a life.

The biggest influence that he had was his father.

He made sure to mention that his father was the one person he respected the most in his life.

His father spoke the following words before Erick left for Iraq,

“Son, you’ve got eleven guys. Make sure you bring ’em all back.”

“And they didn’t all come back”, Erick uttered while holding back his emotions.

These were men and women who shared mutual trust with Erick. It was hard for him not to feel overwhelming guilt over it. He feels guilt for simply being one of the ones who survived.

The experience he had has left him waking up in a cold sweat on most nights. He often accidentally jerks an arm or elbow over to his wife when he wakes up and leaves a puddle of sweat on his sheets and pillowcases.

There was no denying what Erick had.

The veteran was suffering from major PTSD. He didn’t take kindly to his original diagnosis. Erick reacted in disgust and anger when the doctors told him he had PTSD.

For a long while, he struggled to even take his medications. It’s not an easy burden to carry. Caring for your mental health can often require a group effort.

Then Erick found Canines For Warriors.

They were a therapy dog organization, perhaps just what he needed.

The nonprofit organization paired Erick with the loving Black Labrador Gumbo. The dog sat by Erick during the interview, ready to help Erick at any time.

During a key moment of his interview, Erick began describing his admittedly-unfair bitterness to the PTSD diagnosis. Starting out calmly, he spoke of how he reacted.

The veteran remembered using extreme profanity over his PTSD diagnosis. It felt like “labeling” to him, which he didn’t like. He told all of this to the interviewer, not realizing he was getting a little bit agitated once more from remembering it.

“Oh, I’d get mad. You know, extremely ugly words come out of my mouth and I told them, ‘Just ’cause they opened a book, they can’t….they can’t put that stigma on me.”

While Erick told this recollection to USA Today, Gumbo immediately got up and began comforting Erick.

We’re seeing how well-trained Gumbo really is! This very precious dog picked up on his breathing, restless movements, and maybe even the tone of Erick’s voice. Erick was feeling tense, and Gumbo sprang to action and did what he does best.

He plants weight on parts of Erick’s body, known as Deep Pressure Therapy (or DPT).

DPT works wonders. It quite literally tells your nervous system to calm down and relax. This is one of the reasons a hug can go such a long way for us. Erick is going to love being around Gumbo, I can already tell.

Good boy, Gumbo!

When in doubt, turn to a dog. They’re life-savers, even in the littlest of ways.

Watch how Gumbo does it below.

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Source: USA Today, Service Dog Training School