Rosco was founded by First Class Sergeant Jason Syriac of the NC National Guard and named after his faithful rescue dog, Rosco. Jason’s military career began over 25 years ago in 1994. Since then, Jason’s been deployed several times including Korea, Bosnia, and twice to Iraq. His first deployment in Iraq, 2006, turned out to be his most challenging. Dealing with the commotion of gunfire and bombs was a lot to handle emotionally, but there were worse events, particularly when the vehicle he normally traveled in, was lost over a ravine and resulted in the death of his good friend, Sgt. After returning from Iraq, Jason started noticing symptoms of PTSD. He was irritable, depressed, had trouble sleeping, did not like crowded spaces, could not handle commotion and startled easily. On November 4, 2012, Jason Syriac was driving in his 1987 Mustang GT on a rural stretch of highway in NC when suddenly he had to slam on brakes. Something had darted in front of him. He got out of his vehicle to check and standing in front of him was a sad, undernourished male golden retriever with no collar or identification looking to be about 1 year old. They were way out in the country with no humans in sight for miles and winter approaching. Jason wanting to help him, opened his car door and the golden quickly jumped in. Jason kept the golden and named him Rosco after Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane from the hit TV show Dukes of Hazzard because he thought Rosco had a similar goofiness to the Television character. From then on it has been a loving and healing relationship for them both. Jason now spends countless hours and time helping other vets with PTSD and disabilities, by providing service or therapy dogs, housing, and training to vets. Just in the past 3 years, from 2016-2019, Jason has rescued, trained and re homed over 35 dogs and assisted over 50 veterans in need! He is a Master Certified Dog Trainer and a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and has won several awards.
