Message:
Ida Marine deployed to Middle East - 02/15/2003
Evening News staff writer
By DEAN COUSINO
IDA TOWNSHIP — Joel H. Schmidt, a Marine Corps reservist from Ida Township, has been deployed overseas after being called to active duty Jan. 14 to his reserve base in Battle Creek. Mr. Schmidt, 25, was first deployed to Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 21 for temporary assignment. On Feb. 8, he was then sent overseas to an undisclosed destination in the Middle East. He is a member of the 6th Engineering Company from Battle Creek and joined the 7th Engineering Battalion at Camp Pendleton. Both battalions were deployed overseas. A 1995 graduate of Ida High School, he earned a degree in welding technology from Ferris State University in 1997. He is employed as a welder at Nemco Co. in Toledo. He is one of four children of James H. and Mary Jane Schmidt of Petersburg and has a twin sister, Jennifer of Pompano Beach, Fla. His father is a Vietnam War veteran and treasurer of the Ida Public Schools Board of Education. A reservist for four years, he was summoned to full-time duty just days after a monthly training session. "It was really hard on the family because it was so sudden," Mrs. Schmidt said. A teacher for Ida Public Schools, she said she has two nephews who also were recently deployed. "It's hard on them to leave the family," she said. "We don't want these boys to be forgotten."