WARSAW — William Kretsch, Warsaw, was honored as veteran of the month at the Kosciusko County commissioners meeting on Tuesday, August 8.

Kretsch, who grew up in Warsaw, said high school was hard for him. During his junior year he job-shadowed an air force recruiter.

“I had a feeling that’s where I was going to end up,” Kretsch stated.

During high school Kretsch was a diver for the Warsaw High School swim team and competed for the state championship his senior year. He graduated halfway through his senior year, working full-time at Lowe’s before attending basic training for the Air Force in August of 2004.

“When I arrived at the Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas, I knew my life was going to change,” said Kretsch.

He described the challenge of being away from his family and girlfriend, Tracy, while completing the demanding six week basic training program.

“We were able to use the phone once or twice a week if we didn’t mess up or do anything stupid,” he recalled.

After completing basic training, Kretsch was sent to Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas where he attended 16 weeks of schooling to become an Air Force fire fighter. During his last two weeks of fire school, Kretsch proposed to his girlfriend.

Kretsch received orders to Spangdahlem Air Force base in Germany. Because he and Tracy were married after the orders were cut, she was not included on the orders. Once he arrived in Germany, Kretsch requested that his orders be amended, allowing Tracy to join him there.

During his time in Germany, Kretsch was deployed to three different locations. He was first sent to Manas AFB in Kyrgystan and from there further deployed to Salerno, Afghanistan.

Kretsch stated this deployment was hard for him due to missing his first holidays at home.

He was later deployed to Ali AFB in Iraq and Al Udeid AFB in Qatar. After three years in Germany, Kretsch received orders to go to Whiteman AFB in Missouri.

The Kretsch’s first child, a son, Skylar, was born in Warrensburg, Missouri in June 2008. Kretsch stayed at Whiteman AFB for three years before receiving news that the Air Force was purging out all staff sergeants from the fire department.

Kretsch reviewed his options and decided to apply to cross-train for the position of sensor operator in the military. Kretsch was selected and began 30 weeks of schooling for the sensor operator position.

He was then reassigned to Whiteman AFB. His job as a sensor operator included looking out for improvised explosive devices with a remotely piloted aircraft. Kretsch recalls a day when he and his pilot were on watch for a 37-vehicle convoy. After four hours they spotted what appeared to be a wire stretching across the road. After sending out a robot, they discovered three IEDs, thus saving the lives of many people.

In 2012 the Kretchs were blessed with a second child, a daughter, Mia. Shortly after this, Kretsch discovered that the Air Force had bigger plans for him – they wanted him to be an instructor for sensor operator training.

Kretsch spent the next two years as an instructor at Holloman AFB in New Mexico.

In 2014, after ten years in the Air Force, Kretsch was informed that people were being released from their military contracts early. He and Tracy agreed that it was time for him to leave the military and establish roots.

Upon returning to the Warsaw area, Kretsch enrolled at Grace College in the GOAL program. After a year and a half he completed his Bachelor’s degree in management.

After graduation, Kretsch obtained a job with Lake City Bank, working as a float teller at all Warsaw locations. After six months he bid on another position and began working in the consumer relations department.

Kretsch is currently considering returning to school for his MBA or another Bachelor’s degree.

Kretsch states he enjoyed the travel that was involved with being in the military.

“The deployments were rough, but I loved going because I’ve been to places in the world that many people have not.”