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WASHINGTON — Seven years ago, David Crenshaw was in a dark place.

“I found myself suffering from traumas from my public service career, as well as some personal traumas in my family,” Crenshaw said at a news conference Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. “That tailspin put me in a dark hole, a hole darker than any place I found myself in Iraq.”

Crenshaw, a retired Army master sergeant, is part of the organization K9s For Warriors.

Getting paired with his service dog, Doc, changed his life, he said.

“Oftentimes, people ask what has my service dog done for me,” Crenshaw said. “Seven years ago, you wouldn’t see me up here.”

Crenshaw joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers this week to push for passage of the Service Dogs Assisting Veterans Act. It’s co-sponsored by Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, who sits on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

“Right now, we are losing 20 veterans a day,” McGarvey said. “A veteran is one-and-a-half times more likely to die from suicide than a non-veteran, and we are not doing enough to help them.”

The legislation sets up a Department of Veterans Affairs pilot program to award grants to nonprofits to train and connect service dogs with eligible veterans.

“The cost of us not doing this is we are going to lose more of our sons and daughters who were willing to put on the uniform and sacrifice everything for us, and they did it selflessly,” McGarvey said.

The legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate. It sets aside $10 million a year for the program for five years.

Crenshaw has found a greater purpose than he could have ever imagined, he said.

“Being able to sit here in front of this building to represent not just K9s For Warriors, but all of the veterans that have been suffering for so long in those dark holes," he said. "It’s time to come out, and the service dogs will get you out and they help.”