CINCINNATI — Kelly Knox never imagined that watching a presidential funeral on television would change her life. But when she saw Sully, President George H.W. Bush's faithful service dog, standing vigil at his master's casket in the Capitol rotunda, something clicked.

That moment of recognition would eventually lead the 20-year military veteran from a life increasingly confined by disability to one filled with hiking adventures, community service, and renewed independence.

An accidental military career

Knox's journey began in Texas, where growing up in a family of "modest means" meant finding creative ways to fund her education. The U.S. Army ROTC scholarship offered that path, though she never intended to make the military her career.

"I joined in order to go to college, and then one

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