“ICE, REPORT!” The call from a freshly discharged Marine to his young Husky puppy, “Ice”, after instinctively howling without prompt to the sounds of Marine marching cadence. Preparing for a run, a recently discharged Marine mourns the loss of his friend who recently passed. While surfing through military cadences to run to, a young eight-week-old Husky peers at the music speaker emitting these sounds, then exclaims his own note in melody - a perfect Husky “ROooOOoo…rawr rawr.” “Ah, you like that one, bro? Me too.”

That was the first cadence in our graduation ceremony when marching to the parade deck. We can start the run with that, good to go?” Ice the Husky gazes with anticipation and a soft pant while his human finishes the playlist for their run.

            This was the beginning of a unique journey between a Marine Veteran and a Husky puppy that would grow to play a much larger role than anticipated. “Ice” the Husky was given his name in honor of Sgt. Wesley Rice, who died January 14th, 2011, during a training accident in Camp Pendleton, California. Sgt. Rice saved the lives of four Marines while water rushed into the Amphibious Assault Vehicle that was quickly sinking. The pressure of the water coming in was too much for him to get out alone, he paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving his own life to save his brothers.

Six days after Sgt. Rice passed his best friend got news that the pending Husky puppy had been birthed safely in Buffalo, New York on January 20th, 2011 (6 days after Rice’s passing). The decision was made that the Husky puppy would be named “Ice”, taking the “R” off “Rice” to be a namesake while fitting the style of a Husky. Fortunately, the Marine Veteran has a young husky puppy to help in grieving his friend, unfortunately this would only be the first of six brothers that would be lost over the next two years.

            Suicides, overdoses, and freak accidents made life feel like the movie Final Destination, as the lives of five more Marines passed that all served together. In the high-risk environment of combat hardened military members you almost expect overdoses in some form, or suicides to take the lives of one or two people you may know or hear of. For six best friends to die in two years, half of them to freak accidents, it’s really hard to comprehend and have enough time to process and heal before another funeral is being attended. The dynamic of therapy became complex for this Husky’s human, as they had already been participating in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for over a year now. An inspiring antidote came in the form of volunteer work, Therapy Dog volunteer work with Therapy Dogs International! The Marine Veteran had put therapeutic interventions to practice, yet still lacked a true sense of purpose in the moment until a friend remarked about how well-behaved Ice was, “Hey, you should make him one of those Therapy Dogs!”. That was all that needed to be said – the light bulb moment.

            Finding purpose together, a Marine Veteran and his Husky volunteered hundreds of hours over the next couple years (2012-2013) to hospice care patients, dementia units, at risk youth programs, kids reading to dogs and more. They also established a Canine Assisted Therapy program for a therapeutic horse ranch in western New York that served a wide range of disabilities utilizing HIPPA therapy, and the team was recognized on National television at Yankee Stadium behind Homeplate during the seventh inning stretch as “Veteran honoree of the game”. A snowball of purpose had begun rolling and there was no stopping it now, it became their journey to empower other Veterans with PTS to remove suicide as an option and find their belonging in the world again. Together they came up with the idea for a non-profit organization called Heel the Heroes. The mission was to help combat Veterans recover, reclaim, and reconnect to community and families, using Animal Assisted Interventions as the core service to move people forward in their healing and recovery.

            In 2015 Ice and his human attended Animal Behavior College and Bergin University of Canine Studies to receive their professional dog training certification, and Service Dog trainer specialized designation. There was also help from the founder of the University with the financial statements of Heel the Heroes to make the organization an official 501©3. Ice then became a Certified Service Dog, trained to brace for vertigo spells and alert to PTS triggers, while his human became a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Service Dog Trainer. After five years of operating the charity and traveling all over the United States forming boards in San Antonio, Dallas and Denver, the charity was able to place thirteen fully trained Service Dogs for Veterans battling in their recovery with PTS, placing the last dog in June 2020. The pandemic made the decision easy for Heel the Heroes and their board, it was time to put things on “pause”. This was about to be the fifth year in business for the charity and it was time to scale up or re-evaluate. The decision to pause fundraising during a global pandemic was likely a wise one, and the decision for a Marine Veterans and his Husky Service Dog was made to return to school for psychology.

            You see, this Marine did not want to live after losing so many of his friends, but Ice gave reason and purpose. Ice healed the heart of a once angry, combat hardened Marine to become a selfless servant of society at the age of 29. Then they together formed a charity and where every asset of money, time, and talent was given away for free so people could heal, and friends would stop killing themselves. Wherever Ice has gone he’s brought a healing nature with him, his ability to read into anxious peers as they open about their past or calming a child with autism that has been over stimulated is truly something special, a testament to his namesake, Wesley Rice and the caring soul that he was. The real work has been done on the day to day with Ice’s human though, putting up with the anger issues of a disgruntled combat Veteran, and long bouts of depression where the times outside just did not seem frequent enough. Ice has taught his person humility, kindness, compassion, patience, and made suicide ideation a thing of the past. Ice has been on planes, trains, automobiles, and Ferris wheels. He’s been deep sea fishing, kayaking and herding. He’s been white water rafting, zip lining and paddleboarding. There’s not much Ice hasn’t done in the dog or human world; one can only imagine now he wants to keep enjoying as many days with his human as possible at the senior Husky age of twelve. The best way for this Marine to show gratitude for a guardian Husky like this is to create the life he’s always dreamed of.

            January 10th , 2025 Ice crossed the rainbow bridge after 14 years of hard work. The months following have been dark and lonely, which is not the life worth dreaming of. Ice’s Honor LLC is an ode to a soulmate, a duty to a best friend, and an honoring to a legacy of a four legged life well-lived.

Thank you, Ice – You’re a good boy… REPORT!... ATTENTION, RIGHT FACE, FORWARD – MARCH! - Lyndon