South Bend soldier in Kosovo reflects on Veterans Day, keeping peace

Mishawaka-grown Indiana Army National Guard's Sgt. Chris Griesinger calculates the effect of his military presence on the people of Kosovo “just in the sheer joy of smiles.”

“The kids adore us,” he said Wednesday by phone from Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.

Overall, though, he is among about 300 Indiana National Guard members who deployed for peacekeeping work to Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo in October from Camp Atterbury. Task Force Nighthawk, as the unit is called, includes roughly 20 from the South Bend region, 20 from Fort Wayne and the northwest region, 10 from northwest Indiana, and some from the Evansville area and the Kentucky border, along with a large number from central Indiana, spokesman Master Sgt. Jeff Lowry said.

On his team's unique assignment − making them among the very few who get to leave the base and interact with the community − he and fellow soldiers roll into days that may have them walking a town’s streets, chatting with shop owners or having a scheduled meeting with locals.

They often drop by schools. Like on Monday, when they spent almost six hours playing volleyball, basketball and soccer with students.

On this Veterans Day, it illustrates the vast array of jobs that members of the military do, from the menial to the grand as well as − highest on Griesinger’s mind − those who pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Griesinger is part of the Liaison Monitoring Team that’s in Kosovo to serve as the “eyes and ears” of the United Nation’s Kosovo Forces Operation Joint Guardian. He is among three on the LMT from the South Bend-Elkhart area.

Griesinger said the LMT's job is simple: “Just showing them our faces and letting them know we are here.”

In Kosovo, which sits north of Greece and North Macedonia, tensions between Albanians and Serbs had simmered until they erupted in the Kosovo War of 1998 and 1999. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia still doesn’t recognize that.

Today, Griesinger described: “Everybody waves at you. Everybody says hi. We feel like we’re not here just because we’re told to be here. We’re here because people love us. … We enjoy being with them every day.”

Griesinger, whose Indiana National Guard company is based out of Warsaw, Ind., arrived in Kosovo on Oct. 24 for a rotation of eight to nine months, having just prepared for it in Germany and, before that, at Camp Atterbury.

He’s been in the National Guard ever since he completed his active-duty service as a U.S. Marine, having served from 2015 to 2019, including two years in Japan and three months of NATO exercises in Norway.

Across Kosovo, the people may see military from Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, Slovenia, Poland and others, he said, adding, “We all cover different parts of Kosovo.”

A translator often joins Griesinger and his team to help converse on the street with the older generation’s broken English, but not when they visit with kids in schools, since they start learning English in the first grade.

When he’s not on Guard duty, the 25-year-old resident of South Bend clocks into a day job at the Eaton Corp. as a forger, working with presses that form metal parts made for reduction gears in the drive shafts of semi trucks.

Some things don’t need translation.

“In their words, it brings excitement to the kids – something they don’t see every day,” he said.

Along with the social interactions and good vibes, he and others in the LMT watch for anything of concern.

“We’re not looking for anything serious,” he said. “Like if there’s a wildfire, we’ll watch that.”

They also pass along general observations, keeping a pulse on the overall mood.

He’d like to eventually climb the ranks to command sergeant major so that he’s overseeing other soldiers.

“I’d like to stay in as long as possible,” he said. “I enjoy what I do.”

But he also acknowledged the importance of every job, from “the private to the four-star general.”

“In the long run,” he observed, “it takes everyone to do what we do on a day-to-day basis to make it feasible.”

Veterans Day is personal to Griesinger. Aside from his brother, who’s also currently in the National Guard in North Carolina, two of his uncles have served as U.S. Marines − one for four years and the other for more than 16 years.

"My uncles were the main reason for my joining the military,” he said. “I hold those two very near and dear to my heart.”

When he reflects on Veterans Day, he thinks generally, though most deeply, about “those that didn’t make it.”

“They are the sole purpose of what we celebrate on Veterans Day," he said. “They gave their lives for us to do what we love and want to do.”

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 Guardsmen reflects on Veterans Day in Kosovo