United States Marine Jared Schmitz, 20-years-old, has been named as one of 13 U.S. service members who was killed in Thursday’s terrorist attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan.
As Breitbart News reported, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in Kabul that killed 10 U.S. Marines, one U.S. Navy medic and another two service members, along with at least 90 others and has left at least 150 others wounded.
Among those killed was Schmitz of Wentzville, Missouri, who had been deployed to Kabul from Jordan on his first deployment as a Marine. Schmitz recently graduated high school in 2019 and became a Marine in 2020.
Schmitz’s father, Mark Schmitz, told FOX2 Now that his son always wanted to join the U.S. Armed Forces to defend his country.
“He just went over [to Afghanistan] in the last two weeks … he was one of the 6,000 or so troops called in,” Mark Schmitz said:
[Becoming a Marine] is something he always wanted to do and I’ve never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be. And that’s a big part of why, obviously, we’re all devastated and sad but there’s so much anger right now because he wasn’t even given that oppurtunity to demonstrate all the skills he learned and perfected while the Corps and he took his job very seriously. And somebody just came along and took the easy way out and ended everything for them and for us and for the others that were killed. [Emphasis added]
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) posted a statement on Schmitz’s death, stating that he had spoken to the Schmitz family and “promised his family that his service and his legacy will not be forgotten.”
Other U.S. Marines and service members killed in the attacks, thus far identified, include Max Soviak, Kareem Nikoui, Rylee McCollum, David Lee Espinoza, Taylor Hoover, and Hunter Lopez.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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