From battlefield to the bench: Tucker Rossetto’s path from military intelligence to local judge

Published 12:40 am Sunday, November 10, 2024

(MULTNOMAH VILLAGE) — Tucker Rossetto followed his “calling” to serve something bigger than himself in more ways than one. 

Trained as a military intelligence officer, Rossetto served with the Oregon Army National Guard from 2009 to 2017 before working in law. 

“I think if my younger self were to learn about my military career, they’d probably be like, well, that makes sense, and that’s outstanding because that’s what I wanted to do,” Rossetto said. “When I was recently going through the application and interview process to become a judge, I actually thought about that, and I think my younger self would have been very confused.”

At the age of 18, his life vision was narrow. He saw himself serving in the Army forever, never expecting to be an associate judge at the Beaverton Municipal Court.

Rossetto moved to Oregon as a child and now lives near Multnomah Village with his wife, Kerianne, and two children, Everett, 8, and Anderson, 5. 

The couple met in college at Oregon State University, where Rossetto joined the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program. 

He called it a compromise. Ever since he was in high school, all he envisioned himself doing was serving his country. 

“The idea of serving my country, serving something bigger and greater than myself, really appealed to me,” Rossetto said. 

Intending to enlist straight out of high school, Rossetto’s wrestling coach steered him toward joining an ROTC program. After a few conversations with his parents, Rossetto settled for the compromise with one condition: he would only go if he got a scholarship. 

Lo and behold, he earned a school-specific scholarship, locking him into four years of AROTC with a service obligation at the end. 

And the compromises continued. 

Having met his wife in college, Rossetto turned to the Oregon Army National Guard. She was continuing her schooling, and his vision for ways to serve expanded. 

“Going through college kind of opened my eyes to all of the other things I could do — other ways I could serve,” he said. 

Rossetto was in active duty courses from June to December 2009 before being deployed to Iraq in 2010, where he served for a year. 

He was stationed at Joint Base DeLong, a former Iraqi Air Force Base that was requisitioned, and it was notably “enormous.” 

Mortars and rockets were the norm, but because of the vast landscape, most would end up hitting an open field. 

One evening, his unit played basketball on an outdoor court when alarms went off, warning them to take cover. All the structures were full, so he lay next to the nearest structure. He didn’t know it was a structure housing a C-RAM (Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar). The six-barrel rotary cannon engaged the targets and began to destroy the rockets above.

“It was frankly very exciting,” Rossetto said. “It was like the most intense fireworks show I’ve ever seen.”

Close to the blast zone, Rossetto earned a Combat Action Badge for his proximity to the few mortars that made it past the C-RAM. He later heard it was one of the largest attacks on that base. 

Halfway through deployment, he pondered his next move and looked back at his drawing board: law enforcement, law school or teaching. 

While deployed, he studied for the Law School Admission Test on his nights off. He returned to the state in the fall of 2011 and took the LSAT, starting law school in 2012 while in the National Guard. 

Rossetto worked as a law clerk at the Oregon National Guard Office of the Staff Judge Advocate in Salem until 2015. After graduating from law school, he returned to military intelligence for his final years. 

“When I say that I’m so glad that I ended up getting that ROTC scholarship, it’s just because it really opened my eyes and broadened my worldview — realizing the opportunities for myself for a long time,” Rossetto said.

Having pursued a legal career for years, he is proud to continue doing what he intended from the start: serving something greater than himself. 

Community: Multnomah Village

Service Branch: Army National Guard 

Rank: Captain 

Years of service: 2009-17

“The idea of serving my country, serving something bigger and greater than myself, really appealed to me.”

— Tucker Rossetto

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