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December 08, 2005

Hostage

One of the latest hostages in Iraq is from my hometown, Jamestown, ND:

There wasn't much to Ron Schulz when he reported for the track team at Jamestown High School 25 years ago.

Not much except grit.

"Oh, he was a short kid, and slight," said Russ Schmeichel, who still coaches the school's track and cross country teams.

He was quiet, too, a reserved farm kid who followed a much more outgoing older brother into sports and other activities. "He wasn't the most talented athlete I had, but he was one of the hardest-working," Schmeichel said.

I didn't know Ron well - I knew his brother better. Schmeichel was my seventh-grade gym teacher (of which the less said the better). As a point in passing, I know every single person referenced in this article, including mayor Charlie Kourajian (brother of a friend of King Banaian's; small towns are the smallest world of all):
"Devastating," said Mayor Charlie Kourajian, who went to the high school Wednesday to look up Schulz's pictures in the 1983 Bluejay yearbook. "We already lost one boy to the war," he said, referring to Specialist Philip Brown, 21, a National Guard soldier who was killed last year. "And now this. It's getting pretty close."
Pray for Ron.

And I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I pray for a flaming, cold death for the kidnappers. That's probably not my better self speaking, but it's true.

Posted by Mitch at December 8, 2005 06:17 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Actually, I think that's your best self speaking. Though a death both flaming AND cold would be quite a trick.

Posted by: Warrior Monk at December 8, 2005 08:58 AM

Prayers to him and his family. I just read at Drudge that he may have been killed by the kidnappers.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/08/D8EC6ARO0.html

Posted by: Nancy at December 8, 2005 11:13 AM

I am also a JHS grad..class of '84. I ran with Ron in Jr High cross country. The world just became so much smaller. This sort of thing just doesn't happen to someone you've known.

Posted by: JCE at December 8, 2005 03:03 PM

I am also a JHS grad..class of '84. I ran with Ron in Jr High cross country. The world just became so much smaller. This sort of thing just doesn't happen to someone you've known.

Posted by: JCE at December 8, 2005 03:03 PM

Hey Mitch. Just read about Mr. Schulz's hometown and immediately thought of you. I knew I'd find some personal insight here and I wasn't disappointed.

My thoughts and prayers out to his friends and family. And for the perpetrators, well, no one puts it better than you just did on your follow up post.

EJ

Posted by: Eric Jorde at December 8, 2005 04:40 PM

I worked with him right before he made his last trip back to Iraq, we all told him he was nuts for going back. They thought he was some kind of security official..... He had all kinds of documents to get some woman he met there on a previous trip back from Iraq with him...

Posted by: Chad at December 10, 2005 03:18 AM

I worked with Ron in Baghdad. We are all wondering what he was doing when he returned to Iraq. Was he with a Personal Security Detail? Does anyone know how he was kidnapped? Was he alone when he was picked-up? It is tragic. We are praying for his family.

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