Meet Emmett Pryor — 2017 Veteran
In 2003, Emmett Pryor joined the Marines shortly after graduating high school. He spent most of his enlisted time with MWSS 272 stationed on New River, a small air wing attached to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
In 2005, Emmett was attached to MWSS 271 and was deployed to Al Asad, Iraq for 8 months where he spent his time guarding entry control points with 2nd lad. On August 29th 2005, MWSS 272 returned to Cherry Point, North Carolina with every Marine and sailor who deployed, still alive.
After finishing his enlistment at New River in 2007, Emmett began his employment in the oil field industry in Longview, Texas. In 2011, he attended a bachelor party for a good friend of his. During this celebration, Emmett dove into a swimming pool not knowing the exact depth. When he woke up, he was a C5 incomplete quadriplegic.
After sitting around feeling bad for himself in a powered wheelchair for two years, he finally decided to start living again. Emmett began playing rugby and working out at Adaptive Training Foundation, ATF. With the help of his tightly knit family and support system, Emmett has slowly been regaining his independence by losing weight and switching over to a manual chair.
He still struggles, largely with rolling up ramps and opening manual doors. Because of this, Emmett believes that with the help of a service dog, he could continue to work towards full independence in all aspects of his life.
Emmett also believes the emotional aspects of his life would benefit from his having a service animal. As with any disability, he believes this gets quite frustrating and it's nice just to have a companion there to rely on when things get tough.
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Jeff Anderson
CEO/Founder, Rebuilding Warriors
