ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo.– A 20-year-old St. Charles County man was among those killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz went to school in St. Charles County where he was sometimes known as “Jay” to classmates. Schmitz was in the graduating class of 2019 and was just deployed to Afghanistan within the last two weeks.
Schmitz’s former High School girlfriend Lexie Correa shared video memories of the two of them. She said he was not only committed to serving his country but that he was also an energetic, happy student with an infectious laugh.
Schmitz’s Dad told KMOX this morning that he received the news from U.S. Marines this morning – that his son was among the 13 U.S. Servicemembers killed. He only recently got his assignment in Jordan and then about two weeks ago was sent to Kabul, Afghanistan to assist with the evacuation.
Correa, who said she is also serving in the military, told us she stayed in touch with Jay from where she is stationed in California. She said he constantly talked about serving his country.
Correa said, “He loved his brothers. He really did love the Marines, like I remember talking to him late at night on the phone because I work mid shifts and so he would always stay on the phone with me to keep me awake because I would do like the graveyard shifts and he just constantly talked about how much he loved his brothers, how much he loved serving, even with the bad days.”
We asked her what she’ll miss most. She said, “Definitely his laugh. You could be having the worst day ever and just a phone call from him would make your day so much better and how obsessed with the Blues he was. I remember when we first enlisted, I went over to his house and we had like a watch party for the Blues and he got so excited when we won that Stanley Cup.”
The Marines told Schmitz’s family in Wentzville the news this morning. Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz would have turned 21 this coming February.
Ft. Zumwalt South has a football game tonight and plans a moment of silence before the game starts at 8 pm.
