Navy Airman Jhaka J. Gartrell, daughter of Gwendolyn C. Gartrell and Maxwell B. Gartrell of Washington, and her fellow shipmates returned from a scheduled deployment while assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, homeported in Norfolk, Va.

Gartrell's unit launched 10,000 combat flights totaling nearly 30,750 flight hours and provided surveillance, reconnaissance and close air support to ground forces in Iraq. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group participated in Operation Steel Curtain and Maritime Security Operations (MSO).

Operation Steel Curtain provided aerial support for U.S. Marine and Iraqi forces and prevented insurgents from entering Iraq through the Syrian border.

Gartrell is a 2003 graduate of Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School and joined the Navy in August 2003.