Combat veteran desperate for return of service dog, offering $20,000 reward
Golani was a retirement gift to Roi Biton after he spent years fighting for the Israeli military
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San Antonio – A San Antonio combat veteran is desperate for the return of his service dog after he says the dog was abducted in November.
Roi Biton fought for the Israeli military combat force. However, due to his experience, he now suffers from PTSD, which results in severe nightmares.
Golani, a white bull terrier, was gifted to him as a service dog.
“Not only is he trained to help me relax, but he wakes me up when I have nightmares,” Biton said. “I couldn’t believe it when I first got him. He will push on me until I got up and he would cuddle me and I would feel so relaxed.”
May 3, 2021Updated 6:55 p.m. ET
In an important step toward medical approval, MDMA, the illegal drug popularly known as Ecstasy or Molly, was shown to bring relief to those suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder when paired with talk therapy.
Of the 90 people who took part in the new study, which is expected to be published later this month in Nature Medicine, those who received MDMA during therapy experienced a significantly greater reduction in the severity of their symptoms compared with those who received therapy and an inactive placebo. Two months after treatment, 67 percent of participants in the MDMA group no longer qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD, compared with 32 percent in the placebo group.
Two things happened last year that are changing the face of law enforcement. George Floydâs death while in custody of Minneapolis police triggered a national wave of reforms concerning how police officers do their jobs and the COVID-19 pandemic forced courts, prosecutors and jail administrators to reduce jail populations to allow for better social distancing.
The steps that Mesa County officials took to reduce the jail population have been so effective that an expensive jail expansion no longer appears imminent. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein started two pretrial alternative programs to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail as they await disposition of their cases.
The Operation Finally Home website detailed Zurn’s time in the service:
Aaron began his service with two tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine Corps Rifleman. On his first deployment to Fallujah, Aaron witnessed a fellow Marine killed by a rocket-propelled grenade within 10 minutes of arrival. That introduction, and the fierce fighting the Marines faced in Fallujah, still impact his life today. In 2010, Aaron sought a new challenge and reenlisted as a “jump qualified” Marine Special Operations Forces (MARSOF) operator.
Aaron deployed twice with MARSOF, and his company was frequently exposed to heavy enemy fire, ambush and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). During his final deployment, Aaron fell out of a helicopter and was knocked unconscious, resulting in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). After a total of four deployments, he medically retired in 2016.