Indiana soldiers move from tending Kosovo peace to the home fires

Joseph Dits, South Bend Tribune
·3 min read
Savannah Saddler hugs her fiancé, Staff Sgt. Ray Carney of Cedar Lake, Ind., at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend where 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo, on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Savannah Saddler hugs her fiancé, Staff Sgt. Ray Carney of Cedar Lake, Ind., at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend where 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo, on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

SOUTH BEND — More than a dozen members of the “church family” of Indiana National Guard Sgt. Sterling Goins came Thursday to welcome him home from Kosovo because, Elder Scott Schafer said, “We had to live without him.”

“That just meant we spent more time on our knees holding him up,” Rich Gramm added, standing alongside fellow members of Apostolic Christian Church in Mishawaka.

June 21, 2023: Kosovo peacekeeping mission includes Indiana police officers in Army National Guard

Goins smiled humbly, fresh from a group photo with his church mates, outside of Atlantic Aviation at the South Bend International Airport. A charter flight had just delivered about 60 soldiers from the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team back toward their northern Indiana homes. They’d been gone since October 2022, among hundreds of Indiana guardsmen on a mission to preserve peace in Kosovo.

Since the Kosovo War of 1998-99 between Albanians and Serbs, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia still doesn’t recognize that.  

Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry, the media relations manager, said, “While overseas in support of Operation Joint Guardian, the soldiers led Regional Command-East under the command of NATO to provide a safe, secure environment and ensure freedom of movement for all Kosovo citizens.”

Sgt. 1st Class Colton Cretcher of Warsaw wouldn’t share details of their mission, and his father, Steve Cretcher, knew, “We don’t ask those questions.”

Instead, mom Gale Cretcher said, the regular chats on the phone filled with family news — and less worry than when Colton served in combat in Iraq 15 years ago. Back then, they also coped with older technology with five-second delays when someone spoke in video chats.

Sixty soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Sixty soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

“This is a lot easier to take,” she said.

Rhena Williams of Crown Point welcomed her sons Devonte and Manuel Brooks, both specialists, feeling lucky that they had plenty of calls and texts. When she served in Desert Storm, running the post office for the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, she would have to hunt around for a phone in the city. She wrote a lot more letters.

But Staff Sgt. Ray Carney of Cedar Lake intentionally kept his girlfriend Savannah Saddler out of the loop on one thing when she came to visit him in Prague in January while he was on leave. He’d been planning his move for a couple of months, actually. She didn’t expect it then, though she had a sense that it might happen soon. He pulled out a ring and proposed. She said yes.

“I knew it (was going to happen) going over (to Kosovo),” he said.

Kids and other family members watch and welcome 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from their deployment in Kosovo at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Kids and other family members watch and welcome 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from their deployment in Kosovo at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

Carney said others in the Guard got married there in Europe, but he doesn’t know of any other engagements.

Specialist Kasey Baker of South Bend and his wife, Lauren Baker, wed a year and a half ago. They’d text throughout the day and sometimes played video games online. They’ll finally get to their honeymoon in August: Hawaii. 

Joani Avila of LaGrange said it helped to have FaceTime chats every other day with her husband, Specialist Donovan Avila, as they raise their two kids, ages 7 and 11. But it’s still “rough,” she said, “being the single parent.”

Nov. 11, 2022: South Bend soldier in Kosovo reflects on Veterans Day, keeping peace

Staff Sgt. Paul Chung of Hobart stood happily next to an American flag at the back of the family car with his wife, Marisol Ortiz, as their 10-year-old son called out from inside, saying, “Let’s hope you never do that again.”

Staff Sgt. Paul Chung of Hobart and his wife, Marisol Ortiz, pose for a portrait, at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend, where 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo, on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Staff Sgt. Paul Chung of Hobart and his wife, Marisol Ortiz, pose for a portrait, at Atlantic Aviation in South Bend, where 60 soldiers from the Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team are welcomed from their deployment in Kosovo, on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

The boy referred to Chung’s first deployment. Chung wondered what re-entry would be like, at least emotionally. So, he was nervous arriving at the airport — “like a happy nervous,” he said – because, he added, “I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what a welcome ceremony was.”

Turns out, he said, “It was great.”

In Kosovo, he was the leader of the Rogue Squad. Now, he quipped, “My wife is the new commander.”

He calls her “Household 6.” In military lingo, 6 refers to a commanding officer.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana National Guard 76th Infantry Brigade home Kosovo peace mission