Dublin graduate Logan Morton grew up on a 300acre farm near Dublin, and his experiences there shaped his career. Now, as a veterinary emergency room doctor, Morton enjoys helping people and animals in their time of need.
Morton graduated from Dublin High School in 2009, and in April 2010 he enlisted in the military. He served four years in the Army, with one deployment to Bahrain where he worked in high altitude air defense, specifically patriot missile systems.
“Essentially what we did was missile or airborne threat acquisition,” he said. “Then we would relay that over to an engagement control station that would then tell the systems, ‘Hey, launch a missile and let’s knock that plane out of the sky or shoot those missiles down.’” Morton enjoyed his time in the military, but he ultimately saw it as a stepping stone to go to college. No one in his family had attended college before, so he had to forge a new path, figuring out how he was going to afford tuition and make it all work.
“My dad was a mechanic or drove trucks my entire life,” Morton said. “He just kind of instilled in me that instead of using my body to make money for a living, just try to use my brain.”
Morton left the military in 2014, and went to school at Tarrant County College to earn his associates, then to the University of North Texas for a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. From there, he applied for vet school, and graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in veterinary medicine in 2022.
Once he graduated, Morton did a crash course in ER veterinary medicine with a company called Veterinary Emergency Group. “You get a lot of mentorship [with this program],” he said. “So [after] vet school you’re not just thrown into the fire. You learn surgical skills that are heavily ER-related and deep dive into ER medicine. The last two months, you’re working on the floor as a standalone doctor with another new doctor as well. And then after that, you just roll into being a fulltime ER doctor.”
That’s what Morton has been doing ever since. “I trained in downtown Dallas at a location there, and then I helped open the location in Allen and then I moved over to Camp Bowie in South Fort Worth, and helped open a brand new hospital here,” he said.
Morton chose the Camp Bowie location because it brought him closer to his family in the Weatherford and Granbury area.
Working in the ER means Morton’s schedule is variable. “I don’t have a seven-day set schedule,” he said. “I could have three days on and then have seven days off, or I could do six days on, two weeks off. In general, I work three days a week, 12 hour shifts.”
The work is variable too. “It’s ER medicine, so [I might see] anything from [pets] hit by cars to gunshot wounds, stabs, dog fights, someone brought a dog in for broken toenail. It varies.”
Sometimes veterinary medicine can be heart-breaking. ““Everyone expects that when they come to an ER, their pets are gonna walk out of it,” Morton said. “Obviously, that’s not reality. But in general it’s a very rewarding thing when you get those pets that you can get out of here.”
“My favorite part of the job is honestly just helping people and their pets when they need it most,” he said.
He plans on staying at the Camp Bowie location of the Veterinary Emergency Group for the foreseeable future. “It’s a wonderful company,” Morton said. “I don’t have any plans of leaving. Hopefully, after a couple years on the floor I can move into a medical director role and be able to support a team of doctors.”
Morton currently lives in Godley, Texas, with his wife Emily and their two children, Violet, 3, and John, three months old.
“Any free time I do have is generally hanging out with them, just spending good quality family time together, whether we’re going on a bike ride or taking my son around the block or whatever.”
Morton’s mother lives in Granbury with his younger sister, Meagan. His father passed away when Morton was in high school.
“I think my overall inspiration really comes from my dad and from my mom — just how hard they worked,” he said. “My mom, she worked generally a couple of jobs at a time to help support her three young kids. I think seeing her work ethic in what she did to provide for us, I think is what really drives me in general. It drives me to want to be able to provide for my kids.”
Morton’s advice to Dublin graduates is to work hard for what they want. “Nothing worth having ever comes easy,” he said. “You’re gonna have to work for whatever you get — nothing is ever, ever given.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.