Kristin Shinn recalls her son, Pfc. Collin Schockmel, who was killed in action in Iraq. Schockmel attended Buena High School until the 10th grade. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Posted on 01/18/2007 5:06:27 PM PST by SandRat
Kristin Shinn recalls her son, Pfc. Collin Schockmel, who was killed in action in Iraq. Schockmel attended Buena High School until the 10th grade. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Herald/Review
SIERRA VISTA — Collin Schockmel was a good boy with a wild animated sense of humor.
That side of the 19-year-old was on display when he visited his family during the December holidays. Now his family is waiting for his return. But what Kristin Shinn, Collin’s mother, described “as an absolutely animated boy” will only be a memory.
Army Pfc. Collin Schockmel died of wounds from a rocket-propelled grenade attack while on patrol with his infantry unit in Ar Ramadi on Monday, his first day back in one of the many hot zones of Iraq, family members said they were told.
Two soldiers showed up at Kristin’s workplace, Aegis, around noon on Tuesday when they did not find at her home.
She was called up to an office. As she approached, she saw the Army uniforms.
“I saw the green. You just know it’s bad news,” Kristin said on Wednesday.
As she talked, Tuesday came back to her in a flood of bad memories. She cried, trying to eliminate the scene of being notified of her son’s death.
“He’s a real good boy,” she said. “Even babies and animals like him.”
After being notified, Kristin and her boss cried. Her boss then took her home.
Walking into the home, the first thing Kristin did was get two photos of her son.
“I got the funny one first,” she said.
The funny one was taken when he was preparing to go to Iraq, and she, Collin, her son Charles Shinn and daughter Emily Schockmel went to Tombstone to dress up in late 1800s garb for a photo shoot. Collin was a “bandito,” Charles was an Indian, and mom and daughter were bar girls.
Showing the photo during an interview, Kristin and others in the room smiled.
That was the person they knew and loved — one who enjoyed fun moments.
The second photo was of the soldier in uniform taken at Fort Benning, Ga., where he was going through infantry school. The snickering smile of a “bandito” wearing a large sombrero and serape was gone, replaced by a serious look.
It was the photo of Collin, the soldier, that Kristin held close to her chest as she talked about her son.
“It hurts. It just hurts, really really bad,” the mom said of Collin’s death.
Taking the photo away from her body, she looked at it. Tears flowed.
She closed her eyes, and the tears increased.
“He looks kind of like my dad,” Kristin said, her hand brushing across the glass protecting the framed photo as if she could feel the flesh of his face one more time.
Emily said Collin was in Kuwait Sunday, going through the process of returning to his unit in Iraq.
Kristin said she talked with him on Sunday. There was a little false bravado in his voice that day, she said. Perhaps it was the letdown of having to leave home.
On Monday, Collin called again and Emily said she and her brother had about a 45-minute conversation. But he had to hang up because it was time to prepare for a patrol. The call ended around 1:30 p.m. Arizona time, which was about 11:30 p.m. in Iraq, Emily said.
It was the last time any family member heard Collin’s voice.
Caressing her hand was her fianc/, Chris Sontag.
Collin’s sister Heather Shinn said her brother was a family peacemaker.
Kristin and Emily nodded their heads up and down in agreement.
One day, the two had an argument — nothing unusual in any family. But Collin piped in with some advice after first hugging them.
“Go join a gym,” he advised as a way to eliminate some of their frustrations.
Both did.
Collin was an athletic guy, Charles said.
Collin wrestled in the 10th grade at Buena High School. Kristin said he even created a couple of specials moves.
Sometimes, and not voluntarily, Charles was the one he practiced his moves on.
Collin moved with the family to Sierra Vista in 1996. But Collin later left Arizona in his junior year and went to live with his grandmother in Texas, where he was born and where he became a champion wrestler in the 171-pound class. He also was a lifeguard.
He didn’t finish high school, instead earning a GED certificate and enlisting in the Army.
The community of Richmond, Texas, is reaching out to his grandmother and aunt — Kristin’s mother and sister — and have put up 21 American flags on the aunt’s lawn and lined the street with flags from the aunt’s home to the grandmother’s house to the church he attended, Charles said. The grandmother is staying with the aunt.
Kristin said her son had a philosophy that everyone should see the world, and he decided his travel agent was the Army.
Without giving her opinion about her son’s choice, Kristin said, “This was a decision he made as an a adult. I had to accept it. Period.”
Charles said Collin planned to spend only four years in the Army.
When he got out, “he wanted to become a policeman,” the brother said.
Collin has another brother, Brian Shinn Jr., who lives in Tucson and wasn’t at the Sierra Visa home Wednesday.
Kristin added, “He liked helping people.”
The day of notification was difficult, but Kristin and the family know even harder days are ahead.
Emily said she couldn’t stop crying Tuesday, and it was the same on Wednesday. “He was my best friend,” she said.
Funeral plans have to be made. Until Collin’s body arrives, which could be a week away, it is not the time to start that process, Kristin said. “We’re planning for it here,” the mom added.
Charles said he was going to meet with some Buena High School friends of Collin’s Wednesday night to reminisce about their soldier friend.
Collin was born on Aug. 24, 1987, and died on Jan. 15, 2007. The day of his death was when five other soldiers were killed in Iraq.
Like Kristin, those families would see soldiers in dress greens come to them to tell them their loved ones would be coming home for their final rest.
Outside the family home in Sierra Vista is a flagpole. Until Tuesday, no flag had been flying. But now one flies at half-staff — a family’s honor to soldier son and brother.
SENIOR REPORTER Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Follow-up to yesterday evening's BREAKING NEWS
Stand down Soldier...angels greet you home. RIP Pfc. Collin Schockmel
"I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. In my mind, we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died."
General George S. Patton
A beautiful tribute. I pray for the family of young Collin, and hope that Our Lord God will guide them through this difficult time.
Amen & Amen ishabibble. Our hearts & prayers are with this hero's family.
Sorry Sandrat for my deleted #8....I posted to the wrong thread.
That's ok, benn there, done that, got razed on FR for it.
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