Iraq vets’ happy return

Iraq vets’ happy return

By Elizabeth Hume

For seven months, they clung to every piece of news and treasured every phone call.

The anxiety ended Thursday, when five Beale Air Force Base families were reunited with their battle-tested loved ones at Sacramento International Airport.

“They have been the most trying months of my life,” Sonia Daughtry said as she stood in the arms of her fiance, Air Force Reservist Sgt. Ian Troxell, who was returning from Iraq.

     The airmen attached to Beale’s 940th Air Refueling Wing volunteered to serve in Iraq, where their tasks included driving trucks and providing convoy security and emergency medical service. The airmen were in heavy-combat areas and two returned home with Purple Hearts, the military medal for being wounded in combat. Troxell received the Purple Heart and one of the military’s highest honors, a Bronze Star.

Dressed in combat fatigues, the blond 27-year-old wore a tan that might have made him look as if he had just returned from summer holidays. But the ground combat he witnessed in the blistering Middle East heat was far from a vacation.

In civilian life, Troxell is a California Highway Patrol officer. The Rocklin resident received the Bronze Star in early September for several acts of valor, including helping another soldier survive a car bomb explosion. Troxell, who has emergency medical skills, helped stabilize the wounded soldier for about three hours until a helicopter arrived to airlift him to a medical center.

Troxell received a Purple Heart because mortar shell fragments hit him as he walked at a military base.

Another soldier, Sgt. Edmond Rossovich of Grass Valley, was awarded a Purple Heart after a roadside bomb went off near his convoy, spraying shrapnel into his face.

“Luckily, he called me before I read about it,” said his wife, Diane Rossovich.

Among those welcoming the soldiers were about 20 of Troxell’s CHP colleagues and the agency’s mascot, a chipmunk character named CHiPper. Troxell went from active military duty to serving as a reservist five years ago when he joined the CHP. He spent his first three years patrolling in Santa Cruz County. Two years ago, Troxell transferred to the Yuba-Sutter CHP office and moved to Rocklin.

“Ian is the kind of guy who would do anything to help you,” CHP Officer Jeff Larson said.

Just before going to Iraq, Troxell asked fellow reservist Daughtry, 26, to marry him. The couple kept in touch with e-mail and phone calls. They planned a Nov. 13 wedding via long-distance phone lines.

Troxell grew up as an “Army brat,” living in various parts of the country and world, including Belgium, where he graduated from high school, as his military family was transferred around.

He spent about a year at Santa Rosa Junior College before joining the Air Force. His first duty tour took him to Oman and Saudi Arabia.

“He’s a little bit enamored with being able to do something for his county in one way or another,” said his mother, Patricia Troxell of Carmel. “The Air Force did that for him, but he wanted to be sure to stay here in California because his family was here. So he joined the CHP.”

Ian Troxell said, “It feels awesome to be home but there’s still a lot of men and women back there who I’m praying for.”

As if to punctuate Troxell’s words about the ongoing conflict, nearby stood a young couple clinging to each other, lost amid the welcoming crowd.

Alan Thomas of Woodland was on his way to Fort Hood, Texas, and then to Iraq in several months. He was saying goodbye to his wife, Danielle, and small daughter, Jocelyn.

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