The Schultz family has been going to the same resort in Blackduck, Minn., every summer for the past 15 years, but this year, two of the five family members were conspicuously absent.

“It really, truly, is James’ treat … That was a little bittersweet because everybody knew that Heidi and James weren’t there,” Lori Schultz said. “Everybody was real good about trying to look out after the boys and say ‘C’mon, let’s go waterskiing’ or ‘C’mon, let’s go tubing.’ Because it’s James’ deal. It was a little hard because James is king of the lake. That’s his deal.”

The Schultz family has been going to the same resort in Blackduck, Minn., every summer for the past 15 years, but this year, two of the five family members were conspicuously absent.

“It really, truly, is James’ treat … That was a little bittersweet because everybody knew that Heidi and James weren’t there,” Lori Schultz said. “Everybody was real good about trying to look out after the boys and say ‘C’mon, let’s go waterskiing’ or ‘C’mon, let’s go tubing.’ Because it’s James’ deal. It was a little hard because James is king of the lake. That’s his deal.”

James (or Jim as most people call him) and Heidi Schultz, a father and daughter from Hastings, are members of the Hastings-based Charlie Company of the 834th Aviation Support Battalion, Task Force 34.

Jim and Heidi are currently training at Fort Sill, Okla. for an upcoming deployment to Iraq. It will be Heidi’s second tour there and Jim’s first.

Presence still present

Early in the morning of June 6, Lori, Jim’s wife and Heidi’s mom, brought her Soldiers to the downtown St. Paul airport to see them off.

“It was hard to say goodbye to my wife,” Jim said.

Heidi said there was an anxious feeling to get the deployment under way as the family milled around, with Soldiers waiting to board the plane.

“She (Lori) is involved with FRG (Family Readiness Group), so she kind of hung around, and we actually ended up saying goodbye like three or four times,” Heidi said. “You know, she was like ‘When are you going to leave already because I’ve got to do this business with the FRG, and I’m kind of waiting for you to go.’ I think she was kind of like, ‘When are you guys going to go? Lets get you on the plane and let’s get this started.’”

Jim and Heidi have their cell phones at Fort Sill, but won’t have them when they’re in Iraq. On their first day at the fort, they took full advantage of the fact that they still had them.

“Heidi must have called me four times, and he (Jim) must have called me four times,” Lori said.

“As time has gone by, we’ve kind of gotten a little settled and gotten into a little routine; it’s not like we talk every day anymore,” Lori said. “We have, some days it will be every day; and then every once in a while, it’ll just be a quick text, and I know they’re fine and go from there. But it was funny that first day. It was overload.”

While in Iraq, the primary forms of the Soldiers’ communication to their family and friends back home will be with e-mail and Web cams. Lori said they’ve used the Web cams a few times to make sure they work, and it’s been great.

“I was talking to (Jim) with the Web cam, where he was showing me his room,” Lori said. “He was kind of doing the flash around like, this-is-where-I-live kind of thing, and I could hear a knock on the door and he was like, ‘Come in,’ and wouldn’t you know, Heidi came in and sat right behind him and she was like, ‘Hey mom.’ So it was kind of cool. It was like all at once the three of us got to chat, and it was all unplanned.”

Lori said her two sons, Andrew and Peter, both students at Hastings High School, have also used the Web cams and gotten to talk to their dad and sister.

Peter, who’ll be a sophomore next year, said for now it doesn’t really feel like they’re gone.

“It’s been alright,” he said. “To me it feels like they’re still here because we have the whole Web cam and cell phone thing. ... Not physically there, but still kind of there.”

Peter is staying busy. Between working out in the morning and football practices starting up, he’s “pretty toasted” by the afternoon. He plays tight end and defensive end for the Raiders.

The entire family are big Tom Petty fans, and Jim bought Lori, Peter and Andrew tickets for Petty’s July 23 concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

This issue of the Star Gazette went to print before the show, but Lori said they probably wouldn’t have gone to it as a family if Jim and Heidi were still here, but Jim decided to surprise the three of them with tickets.

“Because he knew he was leaving, and he knew it would be a nice little treat for the three of us,” Lori said.

In general, Lori said they’re trying to stay on track and do normal things, but are giving themselves “a couple treats” along the way.

Lori said one Sunday when she talked to Jim, he said he’d just gotten back from having coffee with Heidi at the “PX,” a store at the fort.

“It makes me feel like they’re doing the job they’re supposed to be doing, but they have a little bit of a family time, so that’s good.”

Jim and Heidi will have five-day leaves in the beginning of August and will be coming home to Hastings. They’re not sure yet when they’ll deploy to Iraq, but think it will be soon after they return to Fort Sill from leave.

By Keith Grauman The Hastings Star-Gazette Published Thursday, July 24, 2008