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| Steven Huft, Anne Haskins, and Izaak Schafer. The flag in the case on the shelf behind them flew over Schafer’s base overseas. |
World enough and time separate Izaak Schafer from his occupational therapy teachers at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences—almost seven thousand miles and nine time zones. Yet, that doesn’t come between him and his work to become an occupational therapist. Staff Sergeant Schafer has been stationed in Kuwait since July 2011 with the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 194th Armor, a Minnesota Army National Guard Battalion headquartered in Brainerd. The 1-194 CAB is on a one-year deployment in support of Operation New Dawn, the drawdown phase of U.S. military operations in Iraq, which is the second largest deployment of the Minnesota National Guard since World War II.
Originally from Staples in north central Minnesota, Schafer’s first love was football, where in high school he played defensive back and receiver. The 9/11 attacks occurred when he was a junior in high school, after which he felt the call to serve in the military and began talking to a recruiter. “I felt obligated to go in; that it was my job,” Schafer said. “I didn’t feel I was being a patriot, but that everyone needed to do their part.” At the same time, Schafer also was drawing the interest of college coaches at Bemidji State, Moorhead State, and Concordia to play football for them, but “I wanted to try my luck at UND, because all three of my brothers attended school at UND.” His brothers Josh and Mike are pilots with Pinnacle Airlines, and his brother Ben is a mechanical engineer with Caterpillar Inc. Josh and Mike developed their interest in aviation from their dad who was a private pilot.
“So I figured I could try to walk on at UND,” Schafer said. “If I wasn’t successful, I would go into the military.” Schafer came to UND in 2003. “When I realized I wasn’t big enough to play, I decided to go into the National Guard, where I could attend school and get my degree but also serve my country.” After his first semester, at age 19, he enlisted. “I took a semester off and went into the military.” Schafer signed on for a six-year enlistment on January 9, 2004, and completed basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., on July 23, 2004. He came back to UND for the fall 2004 semester. Schafer’s family has a history of military service from his grandfather, who was a Seabee during WW II, to his brother, Mike, who was deployed in Bosnia when Schafer joined the National Guard.
