Modesto + Brooke

After nearly 20 years in the Marine Corps, including tours in Okinawa, two combat deployments to Afghanistan, duty at the White House Emergency Operations Center, and Marine Security Guard postings in Barbados and Eswatini, Modesto was medically retired in December 2025, just shy of the 20-year mark, due to his mental health. It’s a fact he doesn’t take lightly; beneath his easygoing manner is a quiet disappointment that his career didn’t end the way he’d planned.

Modesto comes from a deeply supportive military family and carries that same steadiness into his own home, where he and his wife are raising two teenagers in San Diego. He’s taken on much of the day-to-day while his wife pursues a teaching degree and he starts a graduate program at San Diego State this fall. The family still carves out time for the beach and hiking together, even as the kids get busier with their own lives.

Modesto stays in motion. He’s in the gym four to five times a week, hikes whenever he can, and is training with hopes of competing in the 2027 Invictus Games. He’s candid about why he keeps so busy: stillness gives his mind room to dwell on hard memories, so he’d rather be doing something. He’s also active as a Warrior Leader with the Wounded Warrior Project, volunteers with the VFW and Hands On San Diego, and was recently selected for the Department of War Warrior Games 2026.

But no amount of motion outruns everything. The isolation and constant vigilance of his final years in uniform, layered on two decades of service, came to a head in September 2024. A 2022 accident in South Africa, where Modesto and his wife stopped to give first aid to seven crash victims, including two toddlers, left its own mark. Today he lives with PTS. Nightmares and night terrors disrupt his sleep. Racing thoughts and a heightened response to loud noises can pull him out of the moment without warning. And he’s honest that on harder days, he reaches for his phone to numb out rather than engage with the life he’s building.

When Modesto came to Oceanside for his interview, he was shy at first, but he lit up talking about big dogs, a lifelong favorite. As the conversation turned to his time in service and the weight he still carries, Canine Ambassador Moose leaned his head into Modesto’s arm, and Modesto’s hand found the dog’s head without seeming to think about it. Before he left, his only real questions were about the dog’s safety, whether a service dog could join him at the gym, and whether it would be alright at his handyman jobs. He was already looking out for a partner he hadn’t met yet. It was clear that a service dog would mean more than support. It would mean structure, companionship, and a reason to stay present.

That partner would come from a very different starting point, made possible by the generosity of Red Star Sponsor Rose Gonzales. Brooke’s journey began on the streets of Riverside County, where she was found as a stray. She was rescued by Labs and More, where Shelter to Soldier found her and brought her into the program to begin training for a purpose far greater than she could have known.

This is a story about what’s possible when a community pays attention, when rescues collaborate, and when sponsors like Rose Gonzales invest in second chances. Modesto and Brooke’s journey together is just beginning, with roughly 6 to 9 months of weekly lessons ahead of them, and we could not be more honored to have played a part in bringing them together.

We can’t wait to see all that this team will accomplish together!