JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — "I had the gun in my hand, I wanted to fix everything," Chris Langston remembers with a tear going down his cheek.
Langston served our country in the Marines. He came home from Iraq struggling with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"My friend committed suicide, and I thought maybe that was a good idea, too," Langston says.
Then somebody suggested he reach out to K9s for Warriors, a non-profit in Nocatee, Florida. The group custom trains service dogs to help veterans diagnosed with PTSD to get back into life.
Langston decided the program was worth a try. He was matched with a dog, Kup, named after a Navy Seal.
With Kup, Langston saw big improvements. Then a setback, a major one.
His home in Starke caught on fire and burned to the ground.
In the ashes, he found his father's dress blues, the same uniform Langston had worn when he served in the marines.
"I've lost everything," he said choking back tears.
The uniform burned to shreds. Langston said in total frustration, "I feel like I've suffered enough in my life to have sh** like this happen."
Over the next year, thoughts of suicide came roaring back to Langston. But the community responded, and K9s for Warriors found a home for Langston.
An anonymous donor wrote a check for brand new appliances. Others donated bedroom furniture for his children. And JDog Junk removal company invited Langston to its warehouse stocked with donated items for veterans. Langston was able to choose anything he wanted, and it was delivered to his home.
Langston says, "It is so nice to finally be happy. This is beautiful. I love it. It's amazing."
But new furniture will not totally erase PTSD. It still takes management, and that's where Kup comes in.
Langston says Kup sleeps on the floor next to his bed. "If I'm having a bad dream, this is how he wakes me up, right here, good boy," Langston explains as Kup jumps up and pounds his big paws on his chest.
Kup is a lab and weighs about 100 pounds. He senses when Langston is having nightmares from his time in Iraq and rouses him out of the night terrors.
That's a very good boy.
The K9s for Warriors organization was founded in 2011. So far the program has saved more than 1,100 dogs, many from kill shelters. K9s for Warriors has graduated 580 warrior/canine teams with a 99% success rate of preventing suicide.
CLICK HERE to donate to K9s for Warriors
First Coast News is On Your Side helping raise funds for K9s for Warriors. Our telethon on Veterans Day 2019 is raising money to build a Mega Kennel, which will hold 250 dogs in training.
The organizations says the funds are needed because the waiting list to get into the program is 18 months. Too long when veterans are suicidal.
Here's a live look at some K9s in training