1 - the country to be of service to its citizens
2 - the enlisted to be of service to his/her country
3 - the dog to be of service to the veteran
The title is about all of these. The film does seem to specifically hope to gain supporters toward either causing the government to consider Service Dogs as a paid therapy (which it should be), or to assist with financial support of these programs.
Dogs are an incredible species. I believe the term "Man's best friend" is using the term "man" under its original meaning, which is an abbreviation of "human". They are human's best friend.
I enjoyed this film as it helped the audience to understand the need for the specialized animal via the personal stories. I've owned dogs myself and they are the definition of trusting, loyal, and committed.
On a side note, as a family of military and other service personnel, it greatly offends me to see the trend of family pets allowed into places that specifically state "service animals only" because service animals are highly trained and meticulously cared for (usually) and warrant the possibility of dealing with any viruses, fleas, or feces debris an animal might have (which many typical pets do). Bringing an untrained animal into any public space that doesn't allow animals is disrespectful to the specialized field as well as to other patrons. It also creates an unsafe atmosphere for those with authentic service animals. An "emotional support" animal is not a service animal. While some exceptions are made on airlines for "support" animals, the official definition of Service Animal by the US Dept of Justice is:
Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person's disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
Although there seems to be mixed reviews by actual military vets on this film, I believe it is a great doorway into an often misunderstood field and hope it gets the attention it deserves.
