Marine Corps combat veteran · Founder · Speaker · Author · Photographer
A life changed by war—and rebuilt through service and creative work.
Kenny Bass is a Marine Corps combat veteran, nonprofit founder, speaker, author, and photographer. His work asks a difficult question: what can we choose to build from experiences we never would have chosen?
Iraq and the return home
The war continued after the deployment ended.
Kenny served with Marine infantry in 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, during the 2003 Iraq War. On July 20, 2003, while participating in a counter-ambush patrol, the Humvee he was riding in was struck by an improvised explosive device.
He returned home carrying traumatic brain injury, PTSD, hearing loss, physical pain, memory difficulties, and a version of himself he did not yet understand. The years that followed were not a clean recovery story. They involved treatment, isolation, family strain, and the work of learning how war shaped ordinary life.
Atlas, service, and mission
One leash became a lifeline. The lifeline became a mission.
In 2012, Kenny was paired with Atlas, a German Shepherd service dog trained to mitigate the effects of his disabilities. Atlas helped him navigate public spaces, interrupt escalating distress, wake from nightmares, and reconnect with life beyond isolation.
The relationship revealed how difficult and expensive it could be for a disabled veteran to obtain a properly trained service dog. In 2013, Kenny and fellow Marine combat veteran Joshua Rivers co-founded The Battle Buddy Foundation to meet that need. Atlas was named the 2017 American Humane Service Dog of the Year.
The Battle Buddy Foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Kenny continues to serve as its executive director; official nonprofit matters belong with the Foundation.
The work now
The work now includes speaking, books, and photography.
Kenny uses each form for a different purpose. Speaking brings lived experience into the room. If Not for the Blast examines a life changed by war without giving its worst days the final word. Atlas & Friends helps children understand working dogs, invisible disability, and respect. A Marine’s Disposable War returns to photographs from Iraq as memory, evidence, and art.
- Speaking
- Candid talks about combat, invisible disability, leadership, purpose, and what the worst days do not get to decide.
- Explore speaking
- Photography
- A Marine’s Disposable War revisits images made in Iraq as memory, evidence, and art.
- View the photographs
- Books
- If Not for the Blast and Atlas & Friends approach the story through memoir and children’s literature.
- Explore the books
Current technology work
Kenny is also developing Pocket XO, a Digital Executive Officer intended to reduce the operating burden around a person so they can spend more time on judgment, creativity, leadership, and the work only they can do.
Today
Life and work with Arlo today.
Kenny now shares parts of the current journey with Arlo, a young German Shepherd growing up in public view—training, learning, and becoming more capable. Arlo is not a service dog; he has his own personality, purpose, and promise.
Much of Kenny’s work still begins as the Foundation, the books, and the photographs did: before he knows exactly where it will lead, but with enough reason to begin.
The pain happened. What it becomes is still up to you.
Kenny’s work does not ask people to call tragedy a gift. It asks what responsibility, connection, service, and creative work remain possible after life changes.