Thirteen U.S. service members’ lives were cut short in Afghanistan. Now, a grieving Gold Star father has turned his tragedy into a cross-country mission to help our heroes.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz died Aug. 26, 2021, when a terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the airport in Kabul.
His father, Mark Schmitz, joined Liz Collin on her podcast to talk about his loss and how you can help other veterans moving forward by building recreational camps for service members.
“Jared was 20 when he was killed. He’s one of five kids that we have. His siblings are each struggling in different ways and we’ve had to seek counseling for at least half of them … We’re part of a family coalition, essentially fighters that haven’t quit fighting for the truth and accountability since all this happened. We’re definitely going to continue to fight until we get the answers we deserve,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz explained how his son had a bad feeling after landing in Kabul: “The first time I spoke to him was the day after they landed in Kabul … I could hear this fear in his voice, but he said he thought he was going to die that first day. When they went out on that, outside the Abbey Gate for the first time, it was just utter chaos. He said it was just a sea of people so smashed together, front to back, back to front, if your arms were up in the air, they had to stay in the air. You were that tightly squished together … everybody was kind of just panicking trying to figure out how to get out of there. And they were faced with literally an impossible situation.”
“When you’re faced with a situation like this and you lose your child in combat, you just kind of are left like, what do I do now? And I know my son … he would kick me in the rear end if I sat around depressed about losing him,” Schmitz explained.
In viral testimony before Congress, Schmitz slammed former President Joe Biden and demanded to know more of the facts and the truth on the chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan.
Freedom 13 veterans’ camps
Since then, Schmitz has been working to establish recreation retreat camps for veterans and their families through The Freedom 13 project.
“[They’ll] come out all year round and stay for a week, similar to an Airbnb, where the vet comes out, they take a knee for a week. They do some fishing, they bond with other veterans. They meet other organizations that we will have out visiting to present service dogs and PTSD counseling and VA benefit counseling, etc. We hope that we get a wide mix from Vietnam and Korea all the way up through Desert Storm and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Schmitz said of the plan.
The Freedom 13 camps will be built all around the country, one in every state. The first is underway in Missouri where 171 acres have been set aside.
“So fast forward, God willing, we’ll have 50,000-plus acres. 50 states, 650 houses, and we’ll be servicing nearly 30,000 veterans a year. So with the help of those patriots out there that believe in the veterans and want to make sure that they’re taken care of as much as we do, it’s going to rely on the support of the country to help us get this done,” Schmitz said.
There is a $13 a month donation campaign underway for people to help.
“For each camp that we build, we’re going to need about 3,000 people signed up to help contribute $13 a month so you’re not breaking your bank … Obviously, to get the camps built, we’re going to rely on much larger sponsorships and corporate donors and private individuals that are willing to help us move this right along but it takes an army, if you will, to make this happen and there’s been so many great people we’ve met along the way,” Schmitz added.
Fighting for truth about what happened
Schmitz expressed his disappointment at the pardon of General Mark Miley by former President Joe Biden.
However, Schmitz said that attorneys in Missouri explained how “the pardon is only applicable to federal charges. We as a state, we’re looking into what options, if any, there are to hold him accountable.”
Schmitz also expressed hope, “now that we’ve got a new administration and one that’s not afraid of hiding the truth.”
“We’re going to definitely be fighting even harder now to start doing some real digging. I got a chance to meet with Pete Hegseth very briefly—a great man. So I’m hoping that his love of the veterans—along with ours—maybe we can make some things happen and uncover the truths that need to come out,” Schmitz explained.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
