Retired Chief Warrant Officer Five Ken Schoenfelder of the South Dakota Army National Guard served for more than 41 years. He shared the experiences of his deployment 35 years ago to the Middle East as part of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during Tuesday’s Davison County Veterans Day program.
Schoenfelder admitted he was scared when informed his unit was deploying halfway around the world and also had the memory of two cousins who were wounded during the Vietnam war weighing on his mind. “And I knew the Iraq Army was the third largest army in the world. I knew they had chemical weapons. And it was one of those things that, you know, I just wasn’t sure if I was coming home or not,” said Schoenfelder. “So that, it was, like I said, I’m not afraid to say I was a little bit on the scared side, but I knew I had a job to do.”
Plus he was leaving his wife and newly adopted son behind.
Schoenfelder and his comrades dealt with sweltering heat, sandstorms and constant enemy threat.
Fortunately, the military operations went well and one day the long-awaited word came down. “I finally get to go home, see my wife, my parents, and our new young son. I missed them all. I didn’t get a chance to call home very often,” he shared. “It was nice just to know that in a few days or a few weeks I was going to be able to see them all again.” In years that followed, Schoenfelder also did tours of duty in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom.