OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – Although their military journeys sent them to different corners of the country and world, the Schmude brothers’ story is best told together.
Tom Schmude is a Navy veteran, while his older brother, Gary, was in the Air Force. While it’s all love at the end of the day, there’s always a joke or two thrown around at each other’s expense.
“We found out that the Air Force is definitely smarter because they (the Navy) sent him to Norway for cold weather training and my base sent people to Wisconsin and Wisconsin was colder,” Gary told Local 5 News.
The Schmude brothers said their childhood in the Omro and Oshkosh areas was difficult at times. However, they leaned on each other and were extremely close.
They recalled bonding over games of softball (Tom’s friends versus Gary’s friends) and hockey games, turning into contests over who could get the hardest checks.
“I’ve looked up to Gary my entire life,” Tom said.
The Schmude family had a long history of military service and both Tom and Gary added to that legacy when they joined the military.
“If you go to the Omro Memorial our (family) name is plastered all over the place,” Gary said.
Gary joined the Air Force in 1989.
“I was walking home from working at Burger King one day and I said, ‘There’s got to be something better than this,” Gary said.
Gary went through basic training in the San Antonio area, adding that it was challenging to march in the heat. He then spent about four weeks at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas.
In the Air Force, he was a pavement maintenance specialist and a heavy equipment operator. He spent the bulk of his time in the military at Mountain Home Air Force Base near Boise, Idaho.
He said seeing the blue football field at Boise State University for the first time made quite an impression on him.
He went to his fair share of Boise State football games while also doing a lot of community service projects during his time with the Air Force, which included wildfire responses.
Following his brother’s example, Tom joined the Navy in 1991 as a corpsman, which is an enlisted medical professional.
“She (my grandma) told me you’re either going to become a chaplain or in the medical field, and I said I’m not going to be a chaplain, I curse too much,” Tom said. “My dad was in the National Guard, my brother was in the Air Force, my other brother was in the Army, I might as well go into the Navy.”
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Tom went to San Diego for boot camp, and his first duty station was the Naval Hospital in Oakland, where he stayed for three years. He then went to Camp Pendleton, where he trained to become a corpsman with the Marines.
He said there was a learning curve transitioning from providing medical care in a hospital setting to saving lives out in the field. Nonetheless, he said he enjoyed working as a corpsman and discovered that he was really good at it.
“When you’re sitting there and it’s between you and the patient whether or not the person survives, it’s extremely intense, but after a while you develop a knack for it,” Tom said.
Tom ended up getting deployed to Japan, South Korea, and Australia. After that, he returned stateside and spent time at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina with a combat engineer battalion.
“We got to blow stuff up, it was like every 20-year-old’s dream to blow things up,” Tom said.
After that, Tom returned to the Great Lakes region as a recruiter. He said he developed a reputation as one of the meanest recruiters, but took pride in doing his job well and preparing the young soldiers for what was to come.
Tom spent 12 years on active duty in the military and the reserves for three years. He became an EMT and firefighter in Florida after his military service ended, before moving to Oregon to help people with special needs, before returning to Wisconsin and continuing medical work.
Although their military journeys sent them to different corners of the country and the world, the brother’s say one of their fondest military memories was when they got to spend a Thanksgiving together in California.
“The E9 that took over for us had me go on temporary duty to George Air Force base in Victorville, California,” Gary said. “I told him my brother is stationed down in Oakland, and he said I should call him from the base telephone to tell him to come down and pick me up.”
Long after their military careers ended, the Schmude brothers continue to serve their community together. They are both actively involved with their local American Legion post and said they love giving back to and connecting with other veterans.
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“It builds a brotherhood and you’re still trying to help out people who have gone through the same torments that everyone else has,” Gary said.
Gary and Tom have another brother named David who lives in Michigan who fought in Operation Desert Storm.
