GREENFIELD — Indiana National Guard 1st Lt. Joseph Habig’s dinner on Thursday filled his spirit as much as his stomach.
The meals for him and dozens of his fellow soldiers came from tables covered with pizzas, sandwiches, deserts and other foods at the Indiana National Guard Armory in Greenfield. VFW Post 2693 and its auxiliary arranged the smorgasbord with an outpouring of contributions from local restaurants.
“It’s huge,” said Habig, executive officer of the state National Guard’s B Company 2-152 infantry. “It makes you feel like the community is not only aware that you’re here, but they recognize the importance of the soldiers to not only our local communities, but state and country.”
Members of the local VFW post and its auxiliary served dinner to about 65 of the company’s soldiers, who can be called to deploy from their civilian lives with little warning. Gratitude was expressed from both sides of the event, along with a sense of deepening the Guard’s ties with the community.
Capt. Jeffrey Gray, commander of the company, was among the diners Thursday evening.
“It’s greatly appreciated, because a lot of times the work that we do, the soldiers do, it’s not seen by the general public,” he said. “Things like this help them to realize people do appreciate it.”
Gray noted that serving in the National Guard is not a full-time job.
“This is a part-time job that then calls them up at a moment’s notice,” he said. “These guys show up within sometimes 12 hours, and they do this work, and they just go home and then back to their regular job.”
Members of the company were deployed to Washington, D.C., twice in the past year — once in June for protests following the murder of George Floyd and then in January following Donald Trump supporters’ attack on the Capitol.
Brett Keller, a 1st sergeant with the company, remembers receiving the call to deploy last June at around 9 p.m., and being at the armory at 9 a.m. the next morning packing and getting ready to head out.
“Guys have to find child care, have to notify their employers, have to change all of their plans, drop their life, show up here and be on a plane the next day halfway across the country,” he said.
Keller, who has served in the Indiana National Guard for 19 years, said events like Thursday’s create a connection between current service members and veterans.
“You form some pretty tight bonds with the guys that you serve with while you’re in, and obviously those bonds and those memories last a lifetime, and you see some of these guys coming back to hang out with current service members,” Keller said.
Ties to the community are unique in the military to the National Guard, he continued.
“We are really community-based the way we’re spread out, and it’s awesome to be able to have these relationships with the VFW and local restaurants,” he said.
Both of Gray’s parents were in the Army, and he always wanted to serve in the military, too. That feeling remained after he finished college and began a career in law enforcement, but his wife had reservations. He convinced her in 2011, however, and was sworn into the National Guard within 12 days of receiving her blessing.
“I couldn’t let her change her mind,” he said with a laugh.
Gray’s desire to serve hasn’t waned over the past decade.
“This job has a meaning and it serves our community, it serves our nation, it actually serves the world,” he said.
Habig has been in the Indiana National Guard for nearly six years and enlisted at age 28, with a family and college degree.
“But I just felt like I’m healthy enough, I have no other excuse not to at least serve,” he said.
Habig, a deputy director with the Indiana State Budget Agency, said enlisting in the National Guard was ideal because he could serve while also maintaining his civilian career and wouldn’t have to pick up and move across the country.
“I could stay in Indiana where I was born and raised, so that was very important to me,” he said.
Butch Miller, a member of VFW Post 2693 and an Army veteran, said the post has served meals to the local National Guard company in the past, but hadn’t been able to lately because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It basically just boils down to veterans helping veterans,” Miller said.
He’s grateful for the support the efforts receive from businesses. Hometown Classic Pizza, Arby’s, Popeyes and Costa’s Grill contributed to the recent meal, as did members of the VFW and auxiliary.
“They’re just very generous with their resources,” he said. “We’ve just been very, very lucky. They’re very aggressive with their support, very positive, very upbeat about it.”
