Navy sailor returns home from deployment to find out family gave his dog away before he tracks down pooch: Isnt just a pet

A US Navy sailor returned home from an eight-month deployment to the Middle East only to find out that his beloved dog had been given away by a family member who had agreed to care for the pooch.Paulo Silva’s homecoming celebration was short-lived when he learned that his 5-year-old golden retriever, Archie, was gone.“While I was away, something happened that I was completely unaware of and never would have agreed to—my dog was given away without my knowledge or consent,” Silva wrote in a now-revised Facebook post.Silva, a Freehold, NJ native who lives in Virginia, described Archie as his companion.The two had experienced everything together until the dog was brought to Toms River, NJ, just before the sailor’s deployment last October.“This dog isn’t just a pet to me.

He is my heart, my companion, and a piece of my soul that helped carry me through some of the hardest times in my life,” he said.Silva described his bond with Archie as “irreplaceable,” having been through everything together.“I love this dog more than words can express—more than life itself.Silva had been aboard the USS Harry S.Truman during the aircraft carrier’s 251-day mission to the Middle East, where it was attacked by the Iranian-backed terror group Houthis and fired over 1.1.

million pounds of ordnance, the Navy Times reported.Silva says he routinely checked in with family during his deployment, but was never told Archie was having trouble settling into the new environment.“They said my dog wasn’t settling in too well – that he was having problems staying at the house.But I’ve had numerous people look after my dog before, with no issue,” Silva told the Asbury Park Press.The relative allegedly told Silva they “had no choice” but to give the dog away.Silva, who returned home on June 1, set out to look for Achie and pleaded for social media to help locate the man who took in the dog.“I’m reaching out publicly not out of anger, but out of heartbreak.

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