Peabody Marine David Williams arrived at his home base in Londonderry, N.H. early Friday morning, back from a tour in Afghanistan, and was off to Salem with his girlfriend Samantha Bearse the next day after grabbing some shut eye.

What for? They were headed to the Northeast Animal Shelter to adopt a new best friend.

The couple took home Pirate, a black and white border collie mix, which was rescued from an overcrowded shelter in Tennessee.

Peabody resident Williams, a reservist, is back from his sixth tour of duty. At home, he works at Apple in Burlington.

He serves with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, which is based out of Manchester, N.H. The unit consists mostly of soldiers from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

The soldiers had deployed for Afghanistan last May.