GIVING BACK: The Battle Buddy Foundation

Blog

March 03, 2022

Each issue, the editorial staff of Military Embedded Systems will highlight a different charitable organization that benefits the military, veterans, and their families. We are honored to cover the technology that protects those who protect us every day.

This issue we are highlighting The Battle Buddy Foundation (TBBF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to training and placing service dogs for combat veterans, with the aim of helping the vets transition back to civilian life. The foundation’s executive director and co-founder is Kenny Bass, a Marine combat veteran who served in the Iraq War. In 2003, Bass was wounded during a counter-ambush patrol, where he was hit with an IED. He has since lived with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), hearing loss, and multiple other physical injuries due to his combat service.

After spending more than eight years in various treatment programs through the Veterans Administration (VA) system, Bass’s physician at the VA prescribed a service dog. While the VA was willing to suggest the aid of a service dog, Bass found that the VA does not cover any part of the acquisition or training of a service animal. After struggling to come up with the $15,000 he was charged for his service dog, Atlas, Bass decided that he would help veterans in the same position as he had been: He and fellow Marine combat veteran Joshua Rivers, president of TBBF, created The Battle Buddy Foundation came to fruition in February 2013.

The Battle Buddy Foundation was founded with the combined mission of assisting veterans of all eras to obtain service dogs at no cost to the veteran, while providing a network of peer support and activity and promoting education and awareness of PTSD, TBI, the epidemic of suicides among veterans, and the life-saving benefits of highly trained service dogs.

For additional information on The Battle Buddy Foundation, please visit https://www.tbbf.org/.