By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Three local soldiers stow away their boots, as they retire from 20 plus years of service.

The Ohio Army National Guard Unit in Greenville held a retirement celebration in August for three of their soldiers in honer of their service. Among them was SFC Christopher Carlisle who served for 31 years, SSG Corey Deeter who served 21 years, and SSG Chad Gariety who also served 21 years.

“SFC Carlisle grew up in and graduated from Greenville,” SFC Mark Nottingham said. “He actually is now the head of transportation for Greenville Schools.”

SFC Nottingham said that SFC Carlisle deployed to Iraq from Sept. or 2006 to October 2007. There he earned a Bronze Star for his heroic, meritorious achievement in a combat zone. The award of a Bronze Star dates back to WWII, and today, it is the fourth-highest ranking award a service member can receive for a heroic and meritorious deed performed in an armed conflict.

It is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the armed Forces of the United States, distinguishes himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight. This award recognizes the achievement of the individual. Different award are given to soldiers for different honors, and SSG Deeter is not a stranger to receiving an award himself.

SSG Deeter, who was deployed to Kosovo from July 2004 to March 2005 and Iraq from 2006 to 2007 and again in 2009 until 2010, received a Purple Heart Award for his last deployment. The Purple Heart is a military decoration award to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have been wounded or killed while service in the line of duty.

SSG Deeter is a Tri-Village graduate who grew up in New Madison, and much like SSG Deeter and SFC Carlisle, SSG Gariety is not a stranger to the area. SSG Gariety graduated from Russia High School, and completed two deployments both in Iraq from ‘06 to ‘07 and ‘09 to ‘10. He served 17 of his 21 years in Greenville as a way to give back to the community he was raised in.

“SFC Carlisle based his whole 31 years with Greenville, so a majority of his service was right here in the community,” SFC Nottingham said. “He cared so much about this community because he grew up here.”

SFC Nottingham said that SFC Carlisle’s service was exceptional to not only the Nation Guard as a whole but also to his community. SFC Carlisle is not the only one who wanted to serve his own community, as SSG Deeter served his whole career in Greenville after growing up south of the area.

“It is rare,” SFC Nottingham said. “I joined in the early 2000s, and we had a lot of soldiers who were from this area, and now they come from all over the state. It is kind of an exceptional thing to see soldiers that have come in from the surrounding community that get to stay here and serve let alone retire here in 20 years.”

SFC Nottingham said it is a “cool thing” to see community members getting to come in and serve the community they grew up in directly, and he know all three of the retired soldiers too heart to that responsibility and honor.

“I know they all wanted to stay here as long as they could. They wanted to retire out of here in this community where they grew up,” SFC Nottingham said.

Giving back and helping the community is what The Ohio Army National Guard in Greenville is all about, as the Ohio National Guard serves the Citizens of Ohio and America by fulfilling its state and federal military role of providing public safety, when ordered. They are here to help serve the local community, and all three soldiers honored that.

“I know SFC Carlisle, who mentored me and I took over his job, is just an amazing guy when it came to taking care of soldiers and people in general,” SFC Nottingham said.

He said SFC Carlisle would not only advise soldiers on military stuff but life issues: finances, relationships, etc.

“He was always trying to help soldiers beyond soldiering by helping them progress in life. He just cared a lot about people being successful and be the best they can be,” SFC Nottingham said.

SFC Nottingham said that SSG Deeter and SSG Gariety also worked hard, and they all have “just become really good friends”.

“It is one good thing about the military in general. It is the camaraderie that you have with each other, especially when you have been in for forever. I am doing 23 years, so I was in before them and got to see them perform, do everything, and become amazing friends with them,” SFC Nottingham said.

He said that both SSG Deeter and SSG Gariety are both extremely good guys who are like family.

“They all sacrificed a lot and have spent years away from their families not just on deployment, but the time spent at work adds up a lot,” SFC Nottigham said. “These guys looking back on 20 plus years of time, they can see just how much those days, years, months that you’ve spent away really start adding up.”

He said just honoring their services in important, and that is what the National Guard did in August when they hosted a celebratory dinner and invited other retired soldiers back for the occasion. During the dinner, numerous retired soldiers expressed how much it meant to them to be included.

“That’s the thing about service. You serve all that time, and once you retire it just all stops, so for them it means a lot to just come back into the building,” SFC Nottingham said.

They would like to make an honorary dinner a yearly event in order to allow retired soldiers to come back and reunite with a large part of their life that helped shape them into the people they are today.

“It will also be a good way to say ‘hey, your service is not forgotten’, and will help honor the service that all these soldiers have put in to their communities,” SFC Nottingham said.

To learn more about the Ohio Army National Guard, visit www.ong.ohio.gov. Have an event or need help within the community, reach out to the Ohio Army National Guard Unit in Greenville.

“We are here, and if ever there is anything where they need soldiers to come in an help whatever it may be, we are here,” SFC Nottingham said.

He said the National Guard is here not only to protect the boarders and be a service to the state, but they are here to be a service to the community as well.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].