In 2003, Scott West was serving in the Army in Balad, Iraq -- about 12 miles north of Baghdad -- when his vehicle hit an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the same location where a close friend was killed just the day before.
"We were pulling QRF [Quick Reaction Force]," he says. "I was the driver. I jerked the wheel for the IED to hit my side of the vehicle and saved everyone else -- my four brothers-in-arms. I lost both of my legs instantly, collapsed both of my lungs, crushed my femur in 14 pieces, and my hand was torn from my wrist to my elbow. I bled out for 55 minutes, flat-lined three times and woke up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C."
Sheep Dog Impact Assistance
Fifth Annual Charity Ball
When — 5 p.m.-11 p.m. April 22
Where — Embassy Suites in Rogers
Cost — $65-$800
Information — (740) 502-7475
Despite the extensive injuries, West says his recovery seemed remarkably easy at first. Within three months, he was back on his feet with prosthetics and was snowboarding soon after that. But an addiction to the pain pills that got him through the surgeries and recovery period took hold of his life.
"It got to the point where my wife left me and took our child," he says. "I had to go to rehab.
"I had gotten clean by May 2015, but I still hadn't found a way to channel myself into anything but sitting at the house, playing video games. It was finding a purpose in everyday life that I needed."
When a friend contacted him that September to tell him about Sheep Dog Impact Assistance, he found that sense of purpose.
"He asked me if I wanted to go skydiving," West remembers. "I felt like it was a great opportunity, but I couldn't do it with prosthetic legs. He said, 'If you would just say yes, I hope you would trust that they would accommodate you.' I finally agreed to go and jumped out of a plane a week after that. It reopened my eyes to my potential."
In fact, Sheep Dog Impact Assistance did for Scott West exactly what its founder and president, Sgt. Major Lance Nutt, intended.
"When people see the name 'sheep dog,' most people wonder what we have to do with dogs," says Nutt. "It's human watch dogs we're talking about: Men and women who have served as protectors of 'the flock,' or our community.
"When we were formed, it was all about giving like-minded men and women -- especially if they had been injured in the line of duty -- a chance to continue their service and allowing them to heal from their emotional and physical trauma." SDIA provides assistance to military, law enforcement, fire and rescue, and other emergency personnel.
SDIA deploys its members to help in areas that have been hit by natural disasters. Teams have served in the aftermath of tornado-struck areas like Joplin, Mo.; Moore, Okla., and Tuscaloosa, Ala.; in the northeast after Hurricane Sandy; and in flood-damaged areas in Virginia, Kentucky and Texas.
Nutt says the inspiration for the organization came after Hurricane Katrina.
"I [had come] home from a rough deployment," says Nutt, who is in his 30th year with the United States Marine Corps. "I had lost some friends and fellow Marines. I was sitting on the couch at home on leave in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit. I found myself yelling at the TV and wondering why we, as a nation, weren't doing more for these people. And then I said to myself, 'Why are you yelling at the television? Why aren't you doing something to help?'"
Nutt says he and his friends spent four days and nights on the Gulf helping out.
"On the way home, we talked about how that was one of the most rewarding things we had ever done, and the seed was planted. This was something we could do for the rest of our lives -- find unique, important ways to give back."
A secondary mission is their Outdoor Adventures program -- the program that spurred West on to a more active lifestyle, getting him out of his house and sending him on a variety of adventures.
"I've gone on fishing trips, on a hog hunt, snowboarding, completed a Spartan Race, hiked to Glacier Point in Yosemite," says West. "[Sheep Dog] sponsored me for all of it. I was in a position where I was getting my life in order, and I wasn't allowed to spend all the money I had. But they said, 'We want to give you recognition and thank you for what you've done.'"
Since Nutt founded the organization in 2010, Sheep Dog has grown on a national scale. It now boasts more than 4,000 members and 19 chapters across the United States and one chapter in Canada. The organization receives no federal or state funding and relies on private donations, grants and fundraisers, like its upcoming Charity Ball, scheduled for April 22 at 5 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in Rogers.
"The Charity Ball is a military-style ball, so we operate it with a good bit of pomp and circumstance," says Nutt. "There's a military-style ceremony that involves bagpipes and a sword cutting cake. The guest speaker is USMC Cpl. Aaron Mankin, a combat-wounded veteran from Northwest Arkansas who received severe, third-degree burns when the vehicle he was in ran over an IED. Six of his fellow Marines were killed. [Singer] Cameron Johnson is our special entertainment, and we'll have recognition of our four Sheep Dogs of the Year." Nutt says there will also be music, dancing and both a live and silent auction.
"Every month, we have veterans who have been injured and are struggling in recovery. We're taking them out and showing them that life doesn't have to end because they've been injured. The financial part, we need, and it cannot be understated -- it makes it crucial for us to reach out to our communities and make sure they know the need is great."
West says he's a testament to the good that Sheep Dog Impact Assistance can do.
"They gave me back my purpose and my life," he says. "I say it was the second time my life was saved -- the first time was when I lost my legs, the second time was when Sheep Dog saved me."
NAN Profiles on 04/02/2017