Approximately 200 Indiana National Guard soldiers with the 38th Infantry Division’s 1st Squadron, 152nd Cavalry Regiment, headquartered in New Albany, said goodbye to family, friends and peers during a ceremony at Camp Atterbury on Monday.
The squadron’s troops will deploy to the Middle East, the Sinai Peninsula, for the Multinational Force and Observers international peacekeeping mission that supervises the implementation of the security provisions of the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty of Peace.
The citizen-soldiers, nicknamed Ghostriders, will be led by Lt. Col. David J. Richards of Fishers, and his senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Kuhn, of Cambridge City.
Richards thanked the soldiers’ families, friends and employers for their support of his troops as they prepared for their scheduled 11-month mobilization.
“I appreciate your support, as do the soldiers seated in front of us,” said Richards during his ceremony speech. “Ghostriders, don’t take that support lightly. Let’s make sure we let our support network know that we appreciate them as much as they appreciate you. You have a nation, you have a state behind you right now.”
In all, approximately 500 family members, friends and peers filled a Camp Atterbury building to near capacity for the ceremony.
The division’s commanding general, Maj. Gen. Timothy Thombleson, served as the guest speaker for the ceremony. He highlighted the soldiers’ selfless service, one of the Army’s core values, and the families who raised them to have those values.
“We all share a bit of that selfless service,” said Thombleson. “Let’s be grateful that we’re among people who stepped up to serve our nation, and I’m happy and honored to be among those who serve for our nation.”
Though the soldiers have prepared for more than a year, they have one more training exercise at Fort Bliss, Texas, prior to heading overseas for their peacekeeping mission. While deployed overseas, the Hoosier Guardsmen will work alongside service members from 12 other countries: Australia, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Fiji, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom and Uruguay.
