With a handshake, Jason Schmall says goodbye to a floormate in Linden Hall. He slings a stack of shirts on hangers over this shoulder, takes a last glance at his half-empty dorm room and heads out to his ’78 Caprice.

The car is packed with gray tubs, backpacks, suitcases and a green military duffle bag. He slams the door to his car.

A green pickup truck, which will also soon be full of boxes, sits in Jordan Nye’s driveway, 3105 Woodland St.

Both Schmall, freshman in engineering, and Nye, senior in political science, have been given a week-and-a-half notice that they will be deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. They will have to report to their National Guard headquarters in Waterloo Sunday to prepare to deploy with the Iowa National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry. Schmall and Nye will be on active duty for about 18 months, with an anticipated deployment date in March.

Maj. Greg Hapgood, Iowa Guard spokesman, said the battalion won’t be deployed to Iraq, but other than that, its destination is still undetermined. Schmall and Nye said they were told they would go to Afghanistan.

Hapgood said the unit’s mission is to conduct close combat with enemy forces and provide security of key terrain and installations.

According to ISU Registrar’s office, only two students from the 168th have withdrawn from classes at Iowa State. However, Registrar Kathy Jones said there may be more students at Iowa State in the 168th who will be joining Schmall and Nye.

Uncertainty, halted academic careers, missed opportunities and far-away friends and family are now the future for both student soldiers.

Waiting and uncertainty

Both Schmall and Nye said they can’t wait to go oversees, but the short notice and wait are frustrating.

“That’s the really scary part. I don’t know what I’m doing yet,” Schmall said.

His unit could be doing anything from providing security to being on the front lines engaging enemies, he said, and that makes him nervous.

“It’s scary knowing the fact you have to point your weapon at another human being and pull the trigger. That’s a mindset you’ve got to get over, and that’s just the key thing that’s playing with my mind right now,” Schmall said. “It makes me more scared than anything. I’ve always been an easygoing, lovable guy. I’ve never really thrown a punch at somebody. I always get along with people.”

For Nye, it’s not waiting to find out what he’ll be doing, but not knowing if he’ll have to leave in the first place.

He still hasn’t received his orders to see if he’s finally been released from ROTC after being out of the program for 14 months.

“Nothing takes 14 months. You can make two kids in 14 months if you do it right,” Nye said. “The waiting until now is kind of killing me. I’d like to know right now.”

Just 15 minutes after complaining about not knowing, his cell phone rings.

“Well that’s it. I’m going overseas,” Nye said.

Coping

“It’s hard knowing tonight is my last night here,” Schmall said. “This will probably be my last party here, you know.”

Two “Ms” are scrawled on the tops of his hands in permanent marker, mementos from a trip with friends to the Des Moines strip club The Lumberyard.

“I had to go one last time before I left,” he said. “I have to go out and have some fun before I leave. I slept better that night.”

It’s a ritual he started before he left for basic training last semester.

“You have to have the mind set that this is going to be over with. That’s what you’ve always got to look at, it’s like it’s going to be over soon, you’re going to get home. I’ll be out of this, everything will be normal.”

Family and friends react

“My father always gives me hugs and says he’s proud, my mother always cries and I always see them again,” Nye said. “My mother automatically started quoting the Bible. When I called, the first thing she said was she knows it’s God’s will and if we don’t meet again in this life, we’ll meet in another. I don’t know if she expects me to come back, but more people have come back unharmed than not come back at all. To be honest, I thought it was kind of funny. I didn’t laugh out loud because I thought it would be rude.”

Tony Schmall, Jason’s father, said he and the rest of his Ida Grove family were not as excited as Jason was when they heard the news.

“We’re not real enthused, but it’s something he says he needs to do and we need to support him,” Tony Schmall said. “As a parent you’re always hesitant to see one of your sons or daughters go across the water.”

John Lindstrom, Schmall’s Linden Hall floormate and friend, knows all too well how tough it is to see people go overseas. Lindstrom, freshman in health and human performance, saw his roommate leave during fall semester to go to Iraq. His second semester roommate, Darren Jochims, is leaving with Schmall.

“It’s been real. It’s been like, wow, everyone I get stuck with ends up going somewhere no one really wants to go,” he said. “You know they got to do it. It’s just really rough because you expect to get to know them for a while and see what they’re personality is like, and then you don’t have the opportunity.”

Lindstrom said he hopes to stay in contact with Schmall, but odds are it won’t happen.

“Knowing where he’s going and that something could happen to him is kind of disappointing in a way that you pray for the best, but you never know what could happen,” he said. “It was kind of rough saying goodbye. It’s like losing a friend. It’s never easy to see someone go to fight a war. I don’t think it will ever be easy to let someone go, especially after you get to know them.”

Premature deployment

Schmall, who’s only been a freshman for four weeks, said he wished he’d had more time to experience the college life.

“I wanted to be able to finish a semester, because I’m already behind in my classes because I had to wait a semester to start classes because I got back late from Basic,” he said. “I wanted to get this semester done to get a feel of school. I never really got to remember what school was like — how hard you got to study and how hard you got to try, because college is so much different from high school.”

Schmall said it will be hard to come back to school after being overseas because he’ll be 20 when he starts school again and will been out of school for two years already.

“I was struggling a little bit, so I’m kind of glad it happened this way so I don’t have to deal with bad grades, because I didn’t really know what to do,” he said. “I wasn’t studying enough. Time management is the key thing and once I come back, it’s like I know how to manage my time. I’ll be able to start off on a good note.”

“I’ll probable be like 30 when I graduate,” Schmall joked.

For Nye, this would have been his last semester.

“Most of the time, the Army sets up online courses for you where let you take classes. With me having a semester or two semesters left, there aren’t a lot of options for me,” he said. “It’s going to put me on hold for a year or two.”

Missing out and being forgotten

“I never want to be forgotten,” Schmall said.

He said he’s worried the friends he’s made at Iowa State in the last four weeks will not remember him when he returns.

“When I came back from basic, it was like I had to start all over again. I’m aware I’m going to have to do that here when I come back. I’m going to have to start all over again,” Schmall said.

For Nye, it’s not the worry about being forgotten by friends, but the opportunities with friends that he’ll miss.

“I have some friends who are going to be getting married when I’m gone. I am going to miss that. My brother graduates high school and then goes to Basic Training after that. I am going to miss that,” he said. “Next month I have a condo on the beach on Daytona Beach I was supposed to get last year and didn’t, and now I finally have it and I’m going to miss that.”

Nye has a lighthearted outlook he said keeps him smiling.

“My hope is that the plane gets delayed and heldover in Orlando. The battalion commander comes on and said there’s been a change of plans. Disney World has become a high target area and we’re all being redeployed to Disney World for the next 18 months,” he said.

Schmall said he tries to stay optimistic as well.

“I’m sure the day I leave, they’ll be a lot of tears shed, but I know I’m coming back,” he said.