Parents for Prom

It’s important that all of America and the world knows about the last hours of the heroic lives of Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz and members of the 0311.
The photo you see of our local hero Jared is from Thursday and he and his fellow heroes hadn’t slept in four days .
The account you will read is from a Marine Captain from another unit who shared with me this story today and who saw what Jared and his fellow heroes were doing ….all day and night long .
These are true self sacrificing heroes . This is a recounting of their last hours on earth .

“Jared was an 0311 (Infantryman).
His platoon at the time as charged with securing an area north of Abbey gate and south of what was called mid-gate. In this area ran a road that was walled on one side and on the other ran a drainage wadi, both running parallel to the road.
Somehow Afghan civilians had found/created a hole in a series of fences and walls that dodged Taliban checkpoints and that granted them access to a piece of land that ran along the wadi opposite of the road. Hundreds of afghans had poured into this area. Jared’s platoon was to hold security of this area and to keep people off of the road and on the other side of the drainage wadi. Additionally, they were there to search out American Citizens and other nations citizens that had passports. Abbey Gate was known to be a dangerous gate due to the violence of the Taliban in the days leading up to the 26th, so it was no easy task holding security around hundreds of frantic Afghans for days and days.
Regardless of the danger, Jared’s platoon continued to pluck out American citizens from the mass crowd, ensuring that they had enough water so that would not pass out from heat exhaustion while simultaneously searching them to ensure the safety of all. Often times the Marines had to give away their own supply of water and food to ensure the Afghans would not suffer from a heat related illnesses.
Not once did I hear a Marine bitch about the circumstances or their own welfare, the difficulty of the job at hand or their lack of sleep, their hunger or their thirst.
It was while doing all of these things that a member of ISIS-K infiltrated the position and detonated an IED inside of a backpack near the biggest conglomerate of Afghans. “

May God rest the souls of Jared and his fellow American heroes . We will never forget .
Thank you Mark and Sue for this heroic son of yours .

What a great prom! Over 200 of the BEST teenagers danced, laughed, and sang the night away. Hope every single one of you had a great time and have cool memories to keep. You all have bright futures ahead. We will be posting some fun stuff from the prom in the coming days once we catch our breath & with permission from everyone. Thanks again to the chaperones who ensured the kids were safe, AMERISTAR & Ameristar’s diligent, friendly staff and security! They really worked hard to make sure we all had what we needed from day one! To all the donors and sponsors who helped ensure we were able to do this at such a beautiful venue. The really fun DJ Noji who was beyond phenomenal. The StLPhoto Party team with their beautiful backdrops and creativity! AND AGAIN: thanks to all you juniors and seniors who said “Nope. I’m not going to have everything cancelled anymore. I want my prom!” You stood up for yourself, and your friends, bought your tickets and spread the word.

If you’re driving yourself to prom: park on level three of the south garage and enter conference center there. If you’re being dropped off or chauffeured please contact [email protected] for more information and instructions. There will be security on duty as well as a mandatory registration check in process for everyone’s safety and security. Please email with any questions! See ya at the prom!