Bret Hunter Named Veteran Of The Month
KOSCIUSKO — The county’s first Gulf War veteran, Bret Hunter was honored as veteran of the month at the Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting today, Tuesday, July 12.
After Bret Hunter graduated from Grace College in December of 2011, he decided to sign on for a 3 1/2 year contract with the United States Army and on Oct. 15, 2012, he shipped out for basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.
Bret was at Fort Benning a total of 20 weeks, three of which were at Airborne school. He then got orders to the 4th Brigade of the 82nd Airborne to be a paratrooper.
After getting to his unit, which was 1-508, he immediately started training with the platoon to get ready for upcoming deployment. In January 2014, his battalion left for a nine month tour in Afghanistan.
Bret’s battalion was tasked as the main security force for several special operations groups that worked very closely around the Afhanistan/Pakistan border. Once they returned to the states there was a small period of reintegration, shortly after, though, high intensity training began, so the battalion would be ready to jump, fight and secure enemy territory, if need be.
On Feb. 28, Bret’s contract expired with the Army and he decided to come home to Indiana.
For the last few months Bret has been employed as a machinist at Tecomet and he was recently accepted to Manchester University where he will be using his GI Bill to further his education.
Bret shared a unique experience he had while in the Army; in April of 2015, Bret’s battalion made a night jump with British paratroopers, the largest mass jump to this day. After he opened his parachute he fell into the treeline and got stuck. He got down by opening his reserve parachute and climbing down the para-cord.