Becoming veteran-friendly: Trussville Veterans Committee chairman acts as ‘citizen soldier’ to serve

The crackle in the phone connection meant one thing: Chad Carroll was on the road again.

On an evening in August, his navigation was pointed northeast toward Knoxville for military training. Carroll, a 2009 Moody High School graduate, has traveled extensively in his 12 years in the Air National Guard. Carroll has been to Kuwait, Guam, Japan, Alaska, Hawaii, all over Europe and across the U.S.

Carroll is a member of the 117th Air Refueling Wing in Birmingham, which was founded in 1922 and has included a Carroll since 1955. His grandfather, Hoyt Carroll, served from 1955 to 1988. His father, Michael Carroll, served from 1980 to 2009. Chad Carroll has served since 2009. He’s a logistics management specialist, handling all logistics of getting people and cargo to and from destinations.

“We’re a big military family,” Carroll said.

When Carroll was growing up, his dad would bring him to work. He learned about the work and traveled with his parents to see a lot of the world. It encouraged him, but it was not his first dream. He initially wanted to go to culinary school. Then, he wanted to become a marine biologist. He chose computer science as his major at UAB before deciding he wanted to join the military. At that point, Carroll flipped his major to history to learn more about U.S. history and the military.

In 2021, Carroll was named to the new Trussville Veterans Committee, of which he is currently the chairman. Other members include Rob Langford, John Griscom, Linda Burns and Amy Cane. The Trussville City Council’s liaison to the committee is Councilwoman Jaime Melton Anderson, an Air Force veteran.

“When Mayor [Buddy] Choat created the Veterans Committee, I don’t think we could have envisioned the immediate impact that group would make in our community,” Melton Anderson said. “Under Chad’s leadership, the committee has honored and supported area veterans through outreach events, memorial services and by promoting our new Fallen Warriors Memorial. Chad has been instrumental in making our Veterans Committee a visible and effective group that honors our veterans, and he has been a wonderful military ambassador for Trussville.”

When he was first named to the committee, he spoke to similar groups in Texas, Alabama and Florida to glean ideas. If an opportunity to speak about veterans has been made available, Carroll has taken advantage. The Trussville Veterans Committee hit the ground running.

“One of our goals is to make Trussville one of the veteran-friendliest cities in Alabama,” Carroll said.

Carroll set up a booth at the Trussville 75th anniversary event on The Mall in June and at Trussville City Fest in September. He spoke to the Trussville City Schools Board of Education a month later. He took the Trussville Rotary Daybreak Club to his Birmingham base in September to tour an aircraft. The Trussville Veterans Committee hosted veteran outreach events and donated 108 American flags to Trussville City Schools, one for every classroom in the school system.

He summed up his career and volunteer work in two words: citizen soldier.

“What that means is we serve in the National Guard, but we also serve in our community,” he said. “I like to use that as serving in the National Guard, but also serving in my community to make it a better community and a safer community.”

Future plans include the committee naming a 2022 Veteran of the Year in early 2023.

“I would say every day I’m working on something with the Trussville Veterans Committee,” Carroll said. “Whether it be an outreach event, checking on veterans, brochures, a monthly meeting. I would say about every day I’m touching something with the Trussville Veterans Committee, making sure we’re on the ground, getting our name out there and assisting anybody that needs help in the community.”

Carroll is working on a book about veterans, a project he has been outlining and shaping for two years. Upon retirement from the military in the next couple decades, he aspires to teach history and hopes to do so in Trussville. For now, when he has the opportunity to speak with students and children about veterans, he shares five rules of success:

Have a goal every day.

Once you have that goal, get up.

Get to work.

People will doubt you. Get it done.

Have fun.

Carroll said educating the public about veterans, and any first responder, is important. Telling them and their families “Thank you” goes a long way.

Said Carroll, “Because at night when we go to sleep in our community, there’s always someone out there watching out for us and keeping us safe.”