HASTINGS, Minn. — Fire trucks and a parade of cars past his house was not the send-off anyone had planned for Army Specialist Nick Schiller.
But it had to do. Saturday's tribute was hastily organized by Schiller’s 16-year-old stepson Seth Brunner.
“I was calling people all day,” Brunner says. “I wanted to see how many people I could get to show up to support a veteran who's going out again.”
The long tradition of public military deployment ceremonies is just another casualty of COVID-19.
“It's a lot harder to say goodbye when you know it's done and you don't get to see each other again until I get back,” said Shiller, who served a previous deployment in Iraq.
Schiller is among some 700 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard's Mankato-based 2nd Battalion 135th Infantry who will deploy later this month – first to Camp Ripley for training, and then to Fort Bliss in Texas for additional training. The unit’s final destination will be the Horn of Africa, with Djibouti serving as their base of operation in the global war on terrorism. Schiller will likely be there until May of next year.
Nick’s wife Lori and the couple's four children had planned to send-off Nick both in Minnesota and Texas.
“The kids and I were planning on taking a camper down, getting to see him as much as possible,” Lori Schiller said. “Obviously not anymore.”
Lt. Col. Charles Rankin, who will command the Minnesota soldiers, said even packing will be different. “Hand-held thermometers, masks for every soldier, PPE for every soldier,” Rankin said.
The commander said the base also has five ventilators and an easy exit should a soldier need one.
“We're on an international airport on one side so we have the ability evacuate any soldiers who might need high-level attention,” Raskin said.
Further, the Minnesota soldiers will deploy with a surgeon and two physicians assistants.
“This adds a whole 'nother layer of soldier care. We want to make sure our soldiers are well taken care of with this virus,” Rankin explained.
A private deployment ceremony is planned for the soldiers as they wrap up training at Camp Ripley, but friends and family will be unable to attend due to the risk of transmitting COVID-19 to departing troops.
Like the parade for Nick Schiller, Rankin hopes other ways can be found to support his soldiers – the majority of whom will be leaving on their first deployments.
“Their sacrifice isn't any less, it just isn't going to be as recognized because it's going to be on a much smaller scale,” he said.
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The state of Minnesota has set up a hotline for general questions about coronavirus at 651-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903, available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There is also a data portal online at mn.gov/covid19.