This fall, about 16-hundred students from 46 states will study at the Virginia Military Institute. Some will find the adjustment to campus difficult. Others will experience the usual setbacks in life.
“Chaplain ministry is crisis ministry," says the school's chief pastor, Lt. Col. John Casper.
“Nobody ever comes to see the chaplain when everything is going great. Usually people come to see the chaplain when they’ve exhausted all other options, and they need somebody to talk to,” he says.
But many students find it difficult to open up.
“Just in a military environment in general there is this façade that can be put on in an effort to just kind of continue on with the mission,” Casper explains.
So he has enlisted the help of CAVU – a golden Labrador retriever.
"The dog is, I think, able to break down barriers," Casper says. "I’ve had cadets who have come in that maybe have lost loved ones, and he’ll sit at their feet while they talk, and they’ll rub their fingers or shake their leg, and he’ll nudge them with his nose – like, ‘Hey, are you okay? Do realize you’re doing this?’”
CAVU – a pilot’s acronym for ceiling and visibility unlimited – trained on an aircraft carrier and was assigned to VMI by a group called Mutts with a Mission.
“Mutts with a Mission got me in touch with the command chaplain on the U.S.S. Ford while it was deployed, and I made a call out to sea and talked to the command chaplain out there," he recalls. She said, ‘John, this is a game changer in terms of mental health and morale.' She told me that the dogs can open up conversations that otherwise wouldn’t be open, because sometimes people are less likely to talk to a person, but when they come and talk to the dog – they’re talking to the dog, but they’re really talking to you.”
These military service dogs are taught to respond to more than 75 commands and can also help individuals disabled in combat to lead independent lives. Without being told, CAVU interrupts my interview with Casper to retrieve the pastor’s cell phone and bring it to him.
“Thank you,” he tells the dog. Turning to me Casper confides, “He’s always looking to help.”
CAVU wears a vest when he’s on duty – but when that comes off at night and on weekends, he’s a whole different dog.
“When the vest is on, he knows he’s working. When I go home at night, and I take the vest off, it’s immediate the change. He’s a puppy again," Casper says. "He’s running around the house and messing around with chew toys and hanging out with my kids, and he just becomes a regular dog. I was a cat person growing up, but I am 100% a dog person now!”
