OKLAHOMA CITY — There are countless organizations devoted to sending letters and care packages to troops overseas, but for one deployed airman, it was about sending a little bit of overseas to his kids at home.
Zackary Trissell of Oklahoma’s Air National Guard returned home Tuesday from a nine-month deployment at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, but he has been corresponding with his three stepchildren with the help of a cherished childhood toy and a camera.
Trissell was given three Lego figurines before he left by his stepson Matthew, who has muscular dystrophy. Matthew said the Legos represented him and his siblings. His older brother also lives with muscular dystrophy.
“(Matthew) said if he could walk and wasn’t in a wheelchair, that he would have joined the military,” his mother, Linda Trissell, told KOCO.
While stationed in Kuwait, Zackary Trissell decided to have a little fun with the toys and started snapping them in full military mode, whether in front of a Humvee or with pilots in a cockpit. He included captions like “Hey, Matthew! This one’s for you!” and “Boots on the ground baby!!!”
“The kids got a kick out of it, so it was a way I kind of kept connected with them while I was gone,” Trissell said upon his arrival home, after embracing his wife.
“They need support getting through this deployment, just like we do over there.”
