JaBraun and Courtney were in the home stretch. He'd be home soon, in a few weeks. Instead, they called her out of class and sent her home to find two soldiers in their Class A uniforms.FORT WAYNE – The wife of an Air National Guardsman is imploring Congress to keep their family together.
This family consists of the 1,200 people who fly, maintain and assist the A-10 aircraft at the 122nd Fighter Wing in Fort Wayne.
Chris Greulach of Middlebury has sent letters to federal and state lawmakers urging them to oppose an Air Force proposal to replace the A-10 jet fighters with manned intelligence planes.
Greulach’s husband, Tech. Sgt. Greg Greulach, is part of an 80-person munitions maintenance shop at the base. That group and a 40-member munitions “load crew” would no longer be needed if the base loses its fighter squadron, Chris Greulach said in a phone interview.
“It’s our home, it’s our family, it’s our base,” she said about the 122nd Fighter Wing.
The Greulachs have been married 19 years and have a daughter.
Greg Greulach, who works in Fort Wayne, has been in the Air National Guard for more than 20 years and has been deployed overseas 11 times, including twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, his wife said.
“To do completely away with the fighter plane is a very hard blow,” Chris Greulach wrote in her letter. “Not only are hundreds losing their identity but also their jobs and their family.”
She also wrote: “Why would we also waste the time and money that was put into this base with the recent switch to A-10s? This makes no sense to me.”
Col. David Augustine, commander of the 122nd Fighter Wing, said last week that $100 million has been spent to upgrade the base in the past decade.
Both of Indiana’s U.S. senators and at least five of its House members have publicly pledged to support the 122nd Fighter Wing.
