After a career saving lives as a Coast Guard medic, a veteran commits to saving not one, but two animals in need.

Hollywood dreams in Ohio

Tom’s resolve to join the Coast Guard was inspired by Hollywood.

“I saw the movie Top Gun and want[ed] to be the person jumping out of the helicopter to rescue people,” he shares.

After completing a paramedic program, Tom enlisted. He served in Alaska, Michigan, California, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was there where Tom’s Top Gun dreams came true as a Coast Guard flight medic.

However, not every mission had a happy ending.

“I spent most of my adult life trying to help people,” he shares. “We would get called out to go out [and] save lives, but not every time did we make the rescue. Those are ones I remember most.”

The unsuccessful rescues still weigh heavily on Tom. He often asks himself if there was anything else he could have done to change the outcomes.

“Mother Nature is not a forgiving host,” he observes.

“She requires a payment at some point in all of our lives.”

After eight years of service in the Coast Guard, Tom transitioned into other careers.

The former Coastie criss-crossed the United States and Canada as a semi truck driver. Later – in his mid-40s – he went to commercial dive school to learn underwater welding and became a certified dive medic, as well.

Rescue on the road

In the summer of 2023, Tom was heartbroken when his Dachshund, Charlie, passed away. Charlie was his loyal companion for 12 years. Their bond was unshakable.

“Charlie was a dog I found [at] a truck stop in Dallas,” Tom says. “He was alone, hungry, and scared, and I needed someone to share the long days with.”

From that moment, they were best friends. The Coast Guard medic recalls Charlie dutifully greeting him at the door after work. And he insists that Charlie had his own way of sharing how his day had gone.

“There is nothing like have someone so happy to see you when you come home from work.”

When Charlie passed, Tom knew he needed another friend. So he journeyed to a local animal shelter to find one.

Saving two more lives

Tom knew that no one could replace Charlie. But he saw adoption was a “way to fill the hole you have in your heart and help you move forward with life.”

So the veteran Coastie visited Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County.

The shelter offers a reduced adoption fee of $16 to veterans in our program. To date we have more than 100 adoptions through our partnership.

While at the shelter Tom met a Pit Bull mix named Ziggy. He has a lustrous jet black coat with distinctive white markings, and the sweetest flop to his ears.

But Tom’s keen eye as a Coast Guard medic took note immediately of the dog’s withdrawn demeanor. It was as though Ziggy needed someone in his life, too.

Shelter staff told Tom about Pets for Patriots and our companion pet adoption program for veterans. He applied, and within days of his approval was on his way to adopt Ziggy – since renamed Shadow.

Me and my shadow

The bond between Tom and Shadow grew quickly; Shadow blossomed in his new environment.

Tom observes that Shadow needed him as much as he needed Shadow.

“We helped each other,” he says, “to say he is no longer withdrawn is an understatement.”

Five months later, fate drew the former Coast Guard medic to the animal shelter once more. He made an impromptu stop and met a then four year-old dog named Gaia.

At the time Gaia was a painfully thin and terrified German Shepherd. She showed signs of previous severe neglect.

Once again Tom felt called to save an innocent dog’s life. So he adopted her that very same day and renamed her Freya.

You are my sunshine

Since adopting Shadow and Freya, life has taken on a new rhythm for Tom, his wife, and their adult son. Shadow, who at first bonded with Tom, soon decided that Tom’s wife was “his human.”

Meanwhile, Freya has become the Coast Guard medic’s “constant shadow,” never straying far from his side.

The family has developed new routines centered around their two new pack members. They appreciate the levity the rescued dogs have brought into the home.

“We take them to the park together to run off all their energy, playing with the dogs at the park,” Tom says.

“They keep us active and give us a lot to laugh at.”

Memories

There are so many things to love about Shadow and Freya that Tom struggled to pick favorites. Perhaps that is why he believes it is the moments they create together that he loves best.

“Memories, we make new memories every day, memories that we will carry with us forever,” he shares.

“At our lowest time they are the comfort that helps us make it through.”

As a Coast Guard medic Tom has devoted a significant amount of his life to saving others, and dogs are no exception. Even though losing a pet is difficult, he encourages other veterans to consider saving the life of a shelter animal.

“Someday they will leave us,” he says, “but we will always have the memories.”

Tom believes that dogs are special because they give back far more than they receive. It is often said that dogs love their people even more than they love themselves.

“I can’t help but think about who ever started calling them dogs,” Tom wonders, “and how fitting that name is because if you spell in backwards it’s G-d. And maybe the feelings they give us [are] the true gift[s].”