MEAD, Oklahoma – After a stray puppy wandered onto his yard earlier this year, Vietnam veteran Marlin “Donnie” Shelton discovered a lifeline in the form of a rescued dog named Sarge. The pairing came through Project Kevlar, a nonprofit that rescues dogs in the Texoma region and trains a select few as service animals for veterans and first responders.
From stray to service companion
Shelton, who was drafted in 1967 and served in Vietnam, took the puppy to a veterinarian for a check‑up. While there, a woman introduced him to Project Kevlar and gave him a phone number to call. “I didn’t know I was even allowed or was able to get a dog,” Shelton recalled. “I thought maybe I had to buy a dog and they would train it for me. That’s what I thought. But I was wrong.”
Project Kevlar founder Sara Solis explained that she started the organization after her own experience with a service dog helped her cope with the loss of her brother. “He really helped me out of that and gave me a new purpose in life, and I want to give that back to the veteran community,” Solis said.
Healing the wounds of war
Shelton described his return home as difficult. “Everybody looked at me real weird, they didn’t want to talk to me,” he said, noting that the isolation was compounded by his PTSD. “If you’re like me, you’re a loner. I’ve got PTSD, and you don’t go around very many people. You stay by yourself mostly. When you got a dog, that’s about the only friend you got.”
Project Kevlar rescued over 15 canines in 2025, but only two – Sarge and another dog named Top – were selected for the veteran program. When Shelton called Solis after his vet visit, she immediately thought Sarge would be a good fit. The two met the following week, and Shelton felt an instant bond. “Sarge just acted like he knew me for a long time,” he said. “He’d come right to me, and he just wanted to love on me.”
Training and community support
After the official pairing, volunteers spent a Saturday building a larger fence around Shelton’s property, a gesture Shelton described as “something I’ve never had nobody do for me before.” He added, “It makes you really feel great that you got someone that loves you.”
Project Kevlar’s model involves veterans spending time with several dogs before a final match, then teaching the veteran to train the dog for a new mission. “So now that Sarge is living here with Donnie, we will train Donnie to train his own dog and give him a new mission in life,” Solis explained.
Looking ahead
Solis hopes to expand the program, aiming to open a dedicated facility within five years where veterans can train dogs and even be employed to train fellow veterans. “There’s a lot of times they come home from deployment and they’re lost, or maybe they’re retiring or their prior service and they don’t know what the next step is, but they want to be involved in something,” she said. “I would love to have a space for those veterans to go.”
Project Kevlar has received strong public support, and Solis emphasized the ongoing need for such assistance. “It’s time that we are there for them, because the war they go through doesn’t just end when the war ends,” she said.
Veterans and community members interested in applying for a canine pairing or volunteering with Project Kevlar can find contact information on the organization’s website.
Original reporting: KXII News 12 (Gray) — read the source article.
