In Uniform
Schild Serves
Country and State
14vHISVOICEvNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
If you mention Brooks Schild’s name in the Yankton
community, some may think of “Mr. Schild,” the Yankton
Middle School science teacher. Others, however, know him as
First Sergeant Schild for Bravo Battery.
Schild’s military career began more than a decade ago
when he was living and teaching in Council Bluffs, Iowa. A
married 27-year-old with one child and another on the way, he
sought a way to better provide for his growing family.
While he may have initially joined the National Guard for
the money, he quickly realized there was a lot more to it than
that.
“The sacrifices you have to give to be in the military are a hard
thing,” he said. “Deployments are rough, and we lost some
good people in our deployments, including my little brother.”
Schild was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, from June 2005
to September 2006 and to Kuwait from April 2009 to April
2010. He has also gone out on flood duty three times —twice
to Iowa and once in South Dakota during the Missouri River
flood in 2011.
“The reason I’ve stayed in (the National Guard) so long is
because of how I can serve my country and still be a teacher
and a coach,” he said.
He’s also had the opportunity to learn about leadership
in ways he might not have been able to otherwise. “I’ve had
years of leadership training by being in the Guard and learned
how to deal with people and stressful situations and how to
evaluate situations and risks,” he said. This type of training
makes veterans more eligible for jobs as opposed to those who
haven’t gone through any kind of military training, he added.
“Veterans have had to work through things that a normal
person might have never had to,” he said.
As first sergeant for Bravo Battery, his job is to support
the commander in charge, make sure the soldiers are trained
properly and that their needs are met. It’s also important for
recruits to understand that their job is to support and defend
the U.S. Constitution, Schild said. He has encountered other
people from all walks of life who are as committed to this goal
as he is.
“It has given me a lot of exposure to diversity,” he said. “It’s
pretty cool we can all come together for the U.S. Army.”
He knows that American citizens are appreciative of what
veterans do for their country, and has seen no clearer evidence
of that than the way South Dakota treats its veterans.
“The hospitals and clinics we have for the VA in South
Dakota do a great job,” he said. “I hardly ever hear anyone say
they didn’t like one of the places. That’s not how it is in other