Honoring Our Veterans: Dan Schmidt — U.S. Army, former counter intelligence agent
United States Army Veteran Dan Schmidt, who is also Highland’s Veterans of Foreign War Post 5694 Commander, must have developed a lot of tolerance as a child inasmuch he was the youngest of three older sisters.
Born in Highland on July 8, 1978, to David and Jane Schmidt, Dan’s big sisters took delight in dressing him like a Barbie Doll and then if he protested too much, “they would beat the crap out of me,” quipped Dan.
He remembers his dog as being his best pal while growing up in the rural area of Williamsfield. As he got older, he spent his alone time fishing, shooting a pellet gun, and riding his little motorcycle. Because his dad worked for a pipeline, the family frequently moved and when Dan was 13 years old, the family relocated to Longview, Texas.
There he attended Pinetree High School but admits he partied too much and did not take school seriously, even though he excelled in science and history.
“My parents taught us to always keep our word and follow through with promises,” said Dan, “and to push yourself to be highly disciplined, but I wasn’t listening in those days and ended up getting myself in a bit of trouble.”
After Dan’s graduation, the Schmidts returned to Highland and Dan began hanging out with some questionable characters. At age 20, he went with friends to a bar in East St. Louis and a bouncer failed to card him.
“I bought a round of drinks and shortly thereafter, a cop cuffed and stuffed me and hauled me to the police station,” recalls Dan.
While being booked, Dan glanced at a picture on the wall revealing the Lake of the Pines, a popular fishing spot near Longview. When the arresting officer came in, Dan made inquiry about the wall image, noting he was from that Texas area and recognized the picture as the home of huge fishing tournaments at that lake.
The officer was duly impressed by Dan’s knowledge and took mercy on him saying, “you seem like a good kid; I’m gonna let you go this time. Find yourself a safe way home and stay outta trouble.”
Dan returned to the bar and proceeded to drink for two more hours.
The much-needed turning point
Then reality hit him.
“That was a turning point for me and I knew I needed to clean up my act,” said Dan.
Two weeks later he went to a U.S. Army recruiter in Collinsville, scored extremely high on the ASFAB test and joined the Army in March 1999.
After boot camp at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Dan was designated a counter intelligence agent for 97 Bravo, now known as 35 Lima, and sent to Fort Huachoca, Arizona, to receive additional training in Military Intelligence. Later he was deployed to South Korea with a long-range surveillance detachment and they were in very close proximity to North Korea.
After the tragic terrorist attack on 9/11, Dan returned to New Jersey in his suit and tie to collect human intelligence data and investigate treason espionage all over the country. He spent six months at Ground Zero and admitted his experiences there were far more intense and disturbing than “anything I ever witnessed in Afghanistan.” From 9/11 through April 2002, he remained with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A year later he was sent to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, for three years to the Defense Language Institute in California to learn Russian. Later, stationed in Germany, he spent the majority of the next five-plus years in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, he returned to Highland as a Sargent First Class E-7.
Dan meets his future wife
Dan ultimately earned his masters from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and shared a class or two with a young lass named Anne. Obviously Dan had a somewhat instant attraction to this little woman who frequently wore various head scarves, but he was about 12 years her senior and she was not initially receptive to his attempts to create a friendship.
“We worked in a classroom group together and I tried to be cordial to her, but she hated me,” said Dan. “In fact, she continued to treat me so rudely, complaining about how many questions I asked and actually let me know she didn’t even like me.
“Finally, one day, I asked her why she was such a jerk and that really made her mad. The next week she was wearing a new scarf and I complimented her on it. Well, then she started wearing new scarves with more frequency and I realized she was trying to impress me and was actually softening in her attitude.”
They began courting and were engaged a year later. The couple married July 20, 2014, and now are the proud parents of 3-year-old Augustus, affectionately called “Auggie.” Dan currently works from his basement in a nationwide research project for Pennsylvania State University. His wife, Anne, is the executive director for the Metro East Humane Society and will be featured in a future Know Your Neighbor column.
They reside in Maryville.