Customers buzzed in and out of the rest stop on Route 196 in Lewiston on Monday morning, but U.S. Navy veteran David Goyette sat with his back to the door. He had no need to monitor the foot traffic, his service dog Sammy was on the job.

“He looks almost like he’s sleeping,” Goyette said of Sammy, the one and a half year old golden retriever laying at his feet. “Watch his eyes — they’re moving up and down. He watches the perimeter around me so I can feel comfortable.”

Goyette was diagnosed with severe posttraumatic stress disorder — an anxiety disorder that can result from a traumatic or life-threatening event. The diagnosis came 27 years after his active military service ended.

Sammy was paired with Goyette several months ago through the Harpswell-based nonprofit Embrace a Vet’s Paws for Peace program, which matches dogs with Maine veterans and provides full service dog training.

With Sammy at his side, Goyette said his life has dramatically changed.

“He’s a lifesaver — I was within a week of suicide when I get involved with Embrace a Vet,” said Goyette. “He’s a good boy.

“And a spoiled brat,” he said, passing a dog treat down to his watchful companion.

Goyette served in the Navy from 1979-1986 and was stationed in Beirut, Lebanon from 1982-83 during the Lebanese Civil War.

“We were brought in as a peacekeeping force,” said Goyette.

He was there when the U.S. Embassy was bombed in April 1983, killing 63 people including 17 Americans.

“The military held us back from retaliating because we were peacekeepers — we were not allowed to respond,” Goyette said.

He was there for the bombing of the Marines barracks in October of that year, which claimed the lives of 241 servicemen and wounded another 128.

“I was in and out of trouble for 27 years after I got out,” said Goyette. “Drinking, drugs, the whole nine yards.

“It’s a common story with veterans — we have a saying about the V.A.,” he added, referring to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which operates the Veterans Benefits Administration. “’Delay, deny, until they die You see, they don’t want to pay.”

Goyette said he initially sought help in 2005 and was denied. He lived with severe anxiety — so intense, scars run up both his arms from where he dug his fingers into his skin. He had nightmares that kept him from sleeping more than two hours per night.

“They said it was depression and they didn’t treat depression,” said Goyette. “Of course I wanted nothing to do with them at all.”

Goyette, who hadn’t used any drugs in a few years, said he was given a prescription for 200 mg of opiates per day. In 2009, he went to a rehab facility when he decided to stop taking his prescription, and was there diagnosed with PTSD.

In addition to the Paws for Peace program, Embrace a Vet hosts alternative therapy and recreational retreats for Maine veterans living with PTS — the nonprofit does not refer to the condition as a disorder and so omits the “D” — and traumatic brain injury.

Carol, Goyette’s wife of 32 years, heard about the retreats and persuaded Goyette to go on an Embrace a Vet retreat to Pineland Farms in New Gloucester last February. “I strictly went because my wife wanted me to go, I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to rest and I expected to get absolutely nothing out of it,” said Goyette. “But it changed my life. Absolutely changed my life.”

On the retreat, Goyette met Joy Johnson, who founded Embrace a Vet, and Dr. Fredic Shotz, who practices naturopathic medicine. The retreat includes optional sessions of acupuncture, energy therapy, and more, as well as recreational activities such as fishing.

“It’s hard to believe in that kind of concept,” said Goyette. “I was born in ‘61; I was born in the flower child era, and a lot of that stuff is related to hippies. That’s one of the big responses from a lot of the Vietnam veterans at the VA center — because I’ve tried to get them to go. They say, ‘I ain’t getting into that hippie (stuff).

“The thing is, if they would just try it,” he added. “I get more relief out if it than any other therapy I have tried, including medication.”

The mission of Embrace a Vet is to “identify unmet needs of Maine veterans with PTS and TBI,” said Johnson.

“We had heard there was a service dog program offered by the VA,” Johnson said. “They cancelled it after a few months because they didn’t have enough empirical evidence to support it.

“We know it does work,” she added. “A lot of us on the board (of directors) are pet-owners, so we know how healing an animal companion can be.”

Embrace a Vet paired with Kathy Hecht, a University of Maine at Machias animal behavior specialist and dog trainer, and launched the Paws for Peace program. On Sept. 16, a second round of training will begin with nine veterans and their dogs, but Sammy was their first placement.

“Kathy pre-screens — and the dog has to accept you — before she’ll let you train with them,” said Goyette. “She brought Sammy out to a grassy area and put him in a command to stay and I had to walk up to him.

“When I approached him,” he said, “Sammy immediately sat up and offered me his paw.”

Gesturing to a few healing scabs on his arms, Goyette said, “This is nothing. When I started with Embrace a Vet, they went from my wrist to my elbow and all the way up.

“If I start digging, I’ll dig until it bleeds and most times I don’t even realize it,” said Goyette. “Sammy stops me.

“He’ll pick up on my anxiety and position himself between me and anyone else, because I can get violent. It’s just part of the PTSD,” he said.

“The biggest part of PTSD is that your adrenaline is always going — you know everything around you, you know the exists in a building — the first thing you do is surveille when you come in so you know the ways out,” said Goyette.

“You get into a situation where you feel cornered and the immediate response with PTSD is fight or flight,” he said. “Ninety percent of the time for me, it was fight.”

After physically assaulting a former employer, Goyette said he went into a state of isolation. Prior to the retreat, he said he didn’t leave the house for six months. With Sammy, Goyette said he has a sense of calm and safety he hadn’t felt in more than 30 years.

“Dr. Shotz thinks there is a cure for PTSD — maybe there is. I don’t know how you can cure the brain,” said Goyette.

“A lot of PTSD is survivor’s guilt, wondering ‘Why am I here and they’re not? I should be gone,” he said. “The response to that is suicide.”

According to a VA report released in 2013, approximately 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide every day.

“If there were more programs like Paws for Peace, I think the rate would drop,” said Goyette.

For veterans, a service dog “becomes your friend,” said Goyette. “He’s surviving for you, so now you have to survive for him.

“It’s like a battle buddy — in the military you have a battle buddy, that’s the guy you trust the most, who’s always got your 6,” said Goyette. “Now, in the civilian life, the dog becomes your battle buddy. He’s always there.”

FOR MORE information about about Embrace a Vet, visit embraceavet.org.