Oral History Interview with Kathleen M. Schuette

[Interview Begins]

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. Today is July 31st, 2023. And this is an interview with Kathy Schuette, who served in the United States Army from roughly March 1977 till July 1977. And we'll correct those dates if need be in just a bit. This is an interview that's being conducted by Ellen Healey at Kiel, Wisconsin, for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. No one else is present for this interview. All right, Kathy, let me start off by having you state your full name, including your middle name, as well as your maiden name.

SCHUETTE: Kathleen Marie Lamers Schuette.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And you go by Kathy most of the time, is that correct?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me a little bit, Kathy, about where you grew up.

SCHUETTE: Well, I grew up in a small town called Cedarburg, Wisconsin. It's no 00:01:00longer a small town. It's a pretty big tourist attraction. But when I grew up in the 60s there, it was still considered a small town.

BOWERS HEALEY: And is that where you were born?

SCHUETTE: That-- I was actually born at [XXXXX]. And my father delivered me because they couldn't get me-- my mom to the hospital in time, and we were farmers. So, I was born on [XXXXXXXXXX]. My mom made the meal. Everybody sat down and ate. She went into labor, I was delivered, she got up and went out and did the chores. She was a tough lady, [laughs] but she was an awesome lady.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And were both your parents born here in Wisconsin or not?

SCHUETTE: No. My father was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father was a police officer, and his mother was essentially a mom, but also a washer woman to 00:02:00take in extra money. Was quite a large family. My mom was born in McGregor, Iowa. She was the second oldest in a farm family. Her dad came from Germany, and her mother was here but her ancestry was Danish. And so.

BOWERS HEALEY: And how many siblings were in your family?

SCHUETTE: I have two brothers. Philip, he's ten years older than I am, and Larry is nine years older than I am. And I have a sister, Linda, who is six years older than I am.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: My parents divorced when I was eleven. During that time period, we were Catholic, and that was like a mortal sin. But my mom was having some health 00:03:00issues and my dad essentially moved out with another woman and kind of left us. But by that time, both of my brothers had become adults and so they were out on their own. And my sister, at the age of fifteen, left home. Essentially ran away from home and later went on to marry the next door married man. So, in effect, I was kind of labeled the wrong side of the tracks growing up, but--

BOWERS HEALEY: And when your parents separated, did you and your mother stay in the house that you were living in, or did you move?

SCHUETTE: No, we stayed in the house. My parents had an eighty-acre farm, so 00:04:00that was divided. My dad got forty acres of the property, and my mom got the property with the house, which was not much to speak of. We had an outdoor privy, and we had cold running water, which still existed in the 60s in countryside, I guess you'd call it.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where did you go to school?

SCHUETTE: Well, kind of all over. We lived on the dividing line between the Grafton, Cedarburg, and Saukville school districts. Because we were also a Catholic family, I did some parochial school to get confirmed and to get my 00:05:00first communion done. That parochial school abruptly ended after the divorce. But I graduated from Cedarburg High School in January of 1977.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what-- did you have any jobs while you were in high school or after high school?

SCHUETTE: Oh, yes. My mother was pretty much disabled, so she received a pittance of an alimony support. And I worked four part time jobs. I worked in the youth work program, which was a government program for low-income families. And that was in the library at the Webster Transitional School in Cedarburg. Monday through Friday after school for a couple of hours. And then it was every vacation was an eight-hour day. So, except for Thanksgiving, however Christmas 00:06:00break I worked, and Spring Break I worked, and then I worked all summer long. And that was six miles from my home, which I rode my bicycle back and forth to because we couldn't afford the gas. I also worked at-- was then Jerry's Restaurant from about eleven at night till four in the morning as a waitress on the weekends. And then I worked at Ville Du Parc Country Club in Mequon Friday night if there was a banquet. Saturday buffet and Sunday buffet, and those were long days.

BOWERS HEALEY: And you did all that while you were in high school or after high school?

SCHUETTE: No, no, I was in high school, and then I had another part time job working with the Cedarburg Art Center for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon before I went to Ville Du Parc to wait tables. So, yeah. And I did graduate with honors.

BOWERS HEALEY: And when did you graduate?

SCHUETTE: January of 1977. So, I was a very busy lady, but I did not have much time to spend with peers. And my social contacts were pretty limited. So, I knew work ethics. I knew how to study, but I was very gullible.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what'd you do after you graduated from high school in January of '77?

SCHUETTE: I joined the Army. And I had enlisted prior to that on a delayed entry program. So, I was doing some, I don't know, different events and training opportunities prior to actually going to boot camp, which gave me my E-2 rating 00:08:00before I actually entered into a paid system.

BOWERS HEALEY: How old were you when you joined the delayed entry?

SCHUETTE: Um, eighteen. I had just turned eighteen. My birthdate's in November, obviously, I was born on Thanksgiving Day. And so, like, the day after I turned eighteen, we signed the paperwork for me, and then I left for boot camp--

BOWERS HEALEY: What did your mom think about you joining the service?

SCHUETTE: Well, like I said, she had a lot of issues going on. She wasn't against it. She did cosign the paperwork. And I think she thought it was probably the best option for me. I had--

BOWERS HEALEY: You said she did or did not cosign?

SCHUETTE: She did. She did.

BOWERS HEALEY: So, you were seventeen when you signed or not?

SCHUETTE: No, I had just turned eighteen. I was-- but she was-- she was very supportive, I guess, of all of it, as best as she could be at that time.

BOWERS HEALEY: How did you find out about the Army enlistment?

SCHUETTE: Well, I had really wanted to go on to college, and that was very clearly not an opportunity. I could have gotten scholarships, but I wouldn't have had any money to help support my mother back home. So, the guidance counselor kind of hooked me up with a couple of recruiters, and the Army recruiter was the one that showed up. So, that's how I got to the Army.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did the Army recruiter actually come to your home?

SCHUETTE: Only for signing the paperwork. Everything else was done at school in a meeting room. And I think I only met him, like, twice before I signed.

BOWERS HEALEY: And when did you actually go on active duty? When did you leave for basic training?

SCHUETTE: March 24th, 1977.

BOWERS HEALEY: And where did you go for basic training?

SCHUETTE: Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. How did you get there?

SCHUETTE: Flight out of Milwaukee. I was sworn in in Milwaukee. And my recruiter took me down. And--

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Did you remember who your recruiter was?

SCHUETTE: Sergeant Gaul. Don't ask me the first name. I don't remember that. But, yeah, he took me down for the ASVAB, which, ironically, I scored ninety-nine percent on the ASVAB, which was pretty much opened me up to any MOS I wanted. But the day that I actually cleared, because you have to do the physical and I'm trying to remember how all of that worked, but you had to do the physical too. So, when I finally got the go ahead to pick an MOS, the only 00:11:00MOS that was open to leave ASAP was automotive repairman. And it was kind of humorous because I had wanted to do an auto repair class in high school, being essentially a single teenager, so I knew how to add oil and that kind of stuff, and I couldn't do it because I was a woman.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: They wouldn't let me take it.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. Tell me what your-- well, what is this your first time on an airplane?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: Yes. [Laughs] It was my first time on an airplane. It was my first flight. It was essentially the first time I had really traveled any distance on my own. My dad moved to Illinois, suburb of Chicago, with his new wife, the 00:12:00woman he'd been living with, and I did drive down from Cedarburg to see him before I left and say goodbye.

BOWERS HEALEY: All righty. Tell me your first impression of when you arrived at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

SCHUETTE: Woof! [Laughs] I guess I wasn't ready for it to be warm! In March in Wisconsin, you're still wearing flannels. [Laughs] And we had about four or five, maybe a week even, before the whole unit that I was with formed. So, we were in civilian clothes yet and they were just starting to take us through kind of a military routine where we had to, you know, get in line and yeah, very 00:13:00simple things. And then, I think according to my yearbook, it said April 1st was my first day of training and, you know, then you get-- well, I'd had my hair cut really short before I left because I had really long hair and I was like, we're going to do this before I leave. And so, I didn't have to go through the haircut, but you go through the line and you get measured and you get your uniforms, and you pick up your boots and your shoes and your purse and your hats and your different collar insignia and your name and all of that. And then you start training.

BOWERS HEALEY: When you arrived, were you an E-2 or did you get that when you--?

SCHUETTE: No, I was in E-2 when I arrived.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And tell me a little bit about the uniform, this uniform or uniforms that you were issued.

SCHUETTE: Well, we were a unique class. The Women's Army Corps had been abolished or ended. So, the very class that graduated before our class was the last class of Women's Army Corps. And so, we were the first class of Army Corps, just the Army. So, we trained certain things with the men. We didn't billet with the men. I think they do that on floors now. But we didn't do that then. But we were issued green fatigues and the army boots and the, uh, the low heeled dress shoes, the summer weight dress uniform was called cords. That didn't fit me 00:15:00really good. But the dress green jacket and the dress green skirt and the white blouse with the little black trim on the collar, that-- I looked really good in that. [Laughs]

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay, now, you said you did some training with men. What part of the training did you do with males?

SCHUETTE: Some of the firing squad or the firing range. We did some of the marching for the long-haul marching, you know, where you're out for three to five miles? We did-- we did not bivouac. We didn't do the overnight camping trip specifically with the males. We were separate from them, but night fire and that, their group was like, right next to ours.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you find the physical aspect of the training easy or 00:16:00challenging, or how would you describe it?

SCHUETTE: Well, I was never an athlete. And it was my biggest concern going in that I wouldn't make it. So, I was really proud when testing came, and I finally managed to pass all of it. But one thing that basic training did for me is it made me part of a family. It made me part of a group. And one of the gals that was in our unit was on profile for a bad foot, and I don't remember if it was broken or what it was, but she was in a cast and so, she did all of the hiking in a cast, and she did everything except the final run to pass the PT test in a cast. So, she hadn't been able to run. And they did her separate because she had 00:17:00to go have the cast off, and she came back and she started to run and every last one of the girls in our platoon fell in and ran with her. We couldn't touch her, but we could-- we could count cadence, we could sing the little songs, we could, you know, encourage her. We could run in front of her backwards. We could run beside her. And she made it. And I was-- I was part-- I was a little tiny part, but I was part of her success. And there was a great deal of pride in me for that. And that was the first time in my life I believed in myself that, you know, I could do something. And the other thing that was really awesome in basic was I had a really hard time zeroing in my M15. A1 military rifle.

BOWERS HEALEY: Was M15 A1?

SCHUETTE: Yes. M15 A1. And the lead male drill sergeant, well, he didn't like me very much. I didn't know how to clean toilets when I got there, and he thought I was kidding him and pulling his leg. So, he kind of-- he kind of didn't like me [laughs] very much. But there was a drill sergeant, Madonna Bark, and she was a lady. And we got out to the last sighting fire before we did test fire. And she came up behind me, and she tapped me on my helmet, and she helped me zero in. And so then I went to test fire and I made expert. And the lead drill sergeant 00:19:00didn't believe it. And I didn't know it at the time, but Drill Sergeant Bark followed me off the range and said, yes, she made expert. And I was walking on cloud nine. Of course, he didn't like me any better! But I was walking on cloud nine and then I--

BOWERS HEALEY: And the DI's last name is Bark? B-A-R-K?

SCHUETTE: B-A-R-K. Madonna Bark was the lady drill sergeant that really left an impression on me. And I don't want to say who the head drill sergeant was because that's just not a nice thing to do. But she was very awesome to me. And so then we went on night ire, which was not-- you had to hit so many targets in night conditions. And it was kind of funny because I must have hit my five targets like that because she came up behind me and she was like, "Listen, I'm 00:20:00not supposed to tell you this, but aim for anything you can see that's up and hit it so we can get the heck off this range." [Laughs] So, apparently there were some people firing that really weren't able to either see or do or whatever because it was a timed target, came up for like three seconds and went down. And so, I was just hitting everything. [Laughs] But that was kind of a cute little-- a little thing that just also too made me feel good about myself.

BOWERS HEALEY: How long was your basic training?

SCHUETTE: I want to say six weeks.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Anything else from basic training that sticks out or that you remember? Any of your bunk mates?

SCHUETTE: I did make friends with one of my bunk mates. Now, coming from a small town and being pretty gullible and being kind of, how shall we say it, naive, it 00:21:00was a very mixed group of ladies that were in my platoon. And so, I didn't really know how to relate to a lot of them very well, so I tended to keep my mouth shut, hard as that may be to believe. But there were a group of Black soldiers, about five of them, and they would get together in the evening before lights out, as we were, you know, getting our stuff ready. And they would sing and they had the most beautiful harmony. It was just awesome. And I kind of tried to tell them that I really thought they had beautiful voices. And being gullible and naive, I don't think that necessarily came out the best. But I 00:22:00don't think they hated me for it or anything like that, but I wasn't very graceful. So, last day, the parade, when you graduate. It was kind of heartbreaking. It was-- it was a happy sad moment. None of my family was there. A lot of people had family there. I did not. But you do pass and review and, you know, standing tall and looking good on my way to Hollywood. [Laughs] So I thought. So, I thought. And then-- and then, you know, you get your orders and it's usually about, I don't know, two, three days. I think you do pass and review on a Friday and Monday you ship. And that was by train. That was a whole new experience to me. They essentially put all of us heading up the East Coast in one car. So, it was guys and girls. And we were pretty much-- I don't want to 00:23:00say locked in, but we weren't allowed out of that car. We didn't get meals. So, if you didn't have snacks in your backpack, you were-- you know, and we traveled all afternoon and all night and the next morning. There was a bathroom. I do remember that. Stand in line, wait your turn. But there were five of us that got off at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, where I went for my advanced training. My AIT.

BOWERS HEALEY: And you knew you were headed for Aberdeen?

SCHUETTE: Once they gave me my papers. I didn't know that before. And they drop you off on a dirt road with literally nothing. No call box, no nothing. Nobody was there to meet you. They just kind of tossed your luggage and you off, and 00:24:00you just kind of sat there and twiddled your thumbs and tried to figure out, you know, are you supposed to walk or just stay put? And those were in the days before cell phones [laughs] and GPS and all of that good stuff. So, if there was no call box there, and it's not like we would have known who to call anyway. But-- and eventually somebody did show up and they picked us up and took us back to base. But Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, was a test site for the military. And so, a lot of the aircraft and the tanks and all of that big equipment was tested there. And I came to know much later after I was released from the military that there were about 3,000-ish plus men on the base, and 00:25:00there was one barracks of eighty women. And out of that one barracks of eighty women, about thirty of us were actually in some school in there and the rest of them were TDY, coming back from Germany or wherever, awaiting whatever their disposition was going to be. Going on to another base or waiting for a new assignment or whatever. So, that base was a really, really, really different culture from basic training.

BOWERS HEALEY: When you were dropped off on the road, you said there were five of you. Were those men and women or all-- [Schuette nods] Okay.

SCHUETTE: Three men. Two women.

BOWERS HEALEY: And all of you were going to go to the automotive repair?

SCHUETTE: No, no. I don't know where the men were headed. They didn't go to 00:26:00automotive. And I think the woman that dropped off with me went to helicopter repair. So, I was the only woman headed, destined, for automotive training.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. So, you were saying it's a really different culture at Aberdeen Proving Ground and about 30,000-- 3,000 men there.

SCHUETTE: Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: And eighty women. So, did you start your training right away or not?

SCHUETTE: Yeah. Pretty much. You had one day of, I guess you'd call it INDOC [indoctrination] where you pick up your bedding and you, you know, sign your paperwork and whatever else and get your paycheck set up and this that and the other thing. And then the next day, I was put into a class and, boy, I want to 00:27:00say there was probably about forty of us in the class, and I was the only woman.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. What were your impressions when you showed up and there was one-- you were the only woman in the class?

SCHUETTE: Well, it's like walking into a room and having every head turn, and I was the little missy, and the instructor was like, "You must be in the wrong place." And I showed him my orders, and he kind of was like, [grumbling]. "Okay, take a seat." [Laughs]

BOWERS HEALEY: Do you know, was the automotive military occupational specialty, was that just opened up or were there other women in it? Any idea?

SCHUETTE: I have no idea. I have no idea.

BOWERS HEALEY: Nobody talked to you?

SCHUETTE: No, but I'm thinking because the Women Army Corps stopped and the new, I guess, combined Army with the men and the women opened up a lot of new areas 00:28:00that women traditionally had never been in before.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: That would be my best guess. But the culture was very different.

BOWERS HEALEY: Can you describe that more?

SCHUETTE: Well, outside of our barracks, because there were, I don't know, like five or six barracks in our compound, but it was-- you walked to everything, and it was quite a distance to walk, to get to the mess hall and whatnot. And outside of our barracks, breakfast, lunch and dinner, there would be lines of men along the sidewalks making catcalls. "Oh, that one's kind of pretty. I don't 00:29:00know, she's a-- she's a one. I wouldn't do anything with her," kind of stuff. Which was degrading, but it was also humiliating. And the women that had come back from other duty stations, there were several of them that I would call alcoholics today. They pretty much always went to the club and had quite a few beers. And so they, you know, they would catcall back with the guys, but those of us that had just gone through basic, which wasn't very many of us, were used to a much more respectful atmosphere where you were kind of accepted as being part of the team, and now you were kind of the little missy, you know, you were 00:30:00kind of like the hood ornament, I guess you could say, for the military. And so, you didn't really leave the barracks because-- you just didn't, you know? And in class, it was kind of funny because you get lecture and then you get hands on, and lecture was okay. I mean, I understood what they were talking about. The textbook we had was one that was written at the fifth-grade level. So, it was kind of like-- for me, it was kind of like reading a comic book, I guess. Sad to say. But when we got to the hands on, the fellows would kind of like, pull up a crate and say, "you sit there, and you read us the instructions." They wouldn't let me, like, pick up the tools and try anything. It was kind of like, you know, little missy, you just tell us how-- what the instructions are, and we'll do the 00:31:00work. Definitely a men's atmosphere.

BOWERS HEALEY: And were the instructors there observing this?

SCHUETTE: Oh, yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And condoning it and participating in it. I'm not sure that the lead instructor knew my name. Even though it had the name tape on my uniform. I'm pretty sure he didn't know who I was.

BOWERS HEALEY: And were the instructor civilian or Army?

SCHUETTE: Army.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: Army. I mean, at least they were in, you know, fatigues like I was.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: With nametags and, you know, rank and insignia. And then we had like, a unit headquarters building and why the name of it escapes me, but the company commander was there, and then there were a couple of sergeants in there. And to 00:32:00do basically anything, you needed to go through them. So, one weekend, I-- it was a long weekend, and I'm trying to think, it must have been maybe Memorial Day weekend?

BOWERS HEALEY: You were there at Aberdeen starting in May?

SCHUETTE: I want to say May. It was a long weekend, so it might have been a military holiday or something like that, that I don't remember, but it was a four-day weekend. We didn't have classes. And so, I requested a [inaudible] to travel home, to fly home for a visit, and then I came back. And one of the people that had kind of taken me to see the vehicles I would be working on at a reserve unit came and picked me up and we started to know each other. And, you 00:33:00know, then I flew back, and I had one-- there was one fella in the unit. He was Indian, like American Indian. And one Sunday afternoon, I had walked down because I wanted to see Chesapeake Bay, which we were right on the bay and I'm thinking, oh, this is kind of cool. This is like, history, you know? And I was a big history fan. So, I got down there and he was there and he was going to rent a canoe and go out and asked me if I wanted to come with him. And I was like, sure. I said, "I've never been in a canoe." And he's like, not a problem. I'll show you how we paddle. Okay. So, we were out on the bay. And I did get sunburned, but I also managed to capsize the canoe. [Laughs] We got it right 00:34:00sided and we did make it back, but I was pretty miserable with sunburn. And that was against military rules because it was damaging military property. And luckily, he did come over and bring me some stuff to put on my sunburn. So, I was a little bit more comfortable. But I still did get docked on my pay for damaging military property.

BOWERS HEALEY: You got docked on your pay?

SCHUETTE: Yes. What-- it was a something 15. Yes. It wasn't a-- well, I think my pay was 135 dollars a month, or maybe 150 dollars a month. It wasn't-- it was nothing to write home about, but it allowed me to eat and have a place to sleep and have clothes and still send money home so mom could eat and have heat.

BOWERS HEALEY: You mentioned 15, to get docked on your pay. Did you have to go in front of a lieutenant or a captain?

SCHUETTE: Yeah. Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: I had to report to the captain.

BOWERS HEALEY: The company commander?

SCHUETTE: Yeah.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And yeah, they, you know, said you're obviously sunburned. That's damaging military property. You get a-- it wasn't a DD15. It was something 15. Some letters and then 15.

BOWERS HEALEY: I'm guessing it was an Article 15.

SCHUETTE: Article 15. Yes. And I think they docked me twenty dollars, which was a significant amount for me, because that's about all I kept back for me.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And what were you sending home to your mom? Were you sending money to your mother?

SCHUETTE: Yeah, yeah, about 130 a month, I think. So, that was my monthly, you know, deodorant, shampoo, soda pop money. But that's what it was. I didn't-- I 00:36:00didn't last very long at that post. The culture was something I really didn't know how to deal with. Like I said, I was pretty gullible. Even in my waitressing jobs, the owners and the people that I worked with would always make sure that you got to your car safely and it started and, you know, things like that. So, you never had to worry about somebody coming up and bothering you. And so, one Friday night, there was a baseball game going on, and I kind of always liked baseball, so I went. I walked. I think it was like three miles, maybe two miles, to the baseball field. And it was, you know, I stayed and it was dark and there were certainly were no streetlights. And I started to not feel very well. 00:37:00I started to feel kind of sick to my stomach. And two rows behind me was one of our company cadre. He was a sergeant. And he offered to drive me back to the barracks and I accepted. So, yes, I willingly went with him. And that's what was in the report. Well, on the way to the barracks, we had to stop, and he had a drink and he bought me a drink, which I really didn't want. But he's like, "This will settle your stomach." And I'm pretty sure that drink was spiked with something, because I don't really remember a whole lot of what happened next except kind of being aware, kind of in a surreal way, that I was in his 00:38:00apartment. And I used the bathroom and I started to get a little concerned because the shower curtain was all naked women. But, you know, I came out and I wanted to go, but I pretty much passed out again.

BOWERS HEALEY: Had you ever drank alcohol before?

SCHUETTE: A little bit of wine. My mother used to make dandelion wine. So, on the holidays, you would get a little bit. And so, that was all you got because it was really strong. Or you got, when we had money, you would get a glass of Mogen David, like at Christmas. And again, it was just a little glass. Even my mom, it was a little glass. It was-- it wasn't just because I was younger. It 00:39:00was just that was-- that was it.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And I do remember being on the bed, and I do remember at least three faces. And I was raped. And I don't remember much after that except being dumped off in the wooded area behind my barracks. There was a road, a paved road. So, it was an important road. And I don't know how long I was there. I was pretty groggy, but the military police making their rounds saw me. And I said, I told them, you know, that I had been raped and whatnot. And they said, oh, you're just another drunk. And they hauled me back to my barracks and dumped me on the door. And the next morning, I went to the company cadre office, and I wanted to 00:40:00go to the hospital, and it was refused. So, that was a Saturday, and I went back on Sunday.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you tell the people at the company why you wanted to go to the hospital?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: And who did you talk to at the company?

SCHUETTE: The other sergeant, because the sergeant that was involved in raping me wasn't present, but I think they probably all knew the culture. So, one sergeant wasn't going to squeal on the other sergeant. And I was denied on Sunday. And finally on Monday, late afternoon, they pulled me out of class and took me to the hospital. And I was seen by a doctor, and they did not draw any blood tests. They did do a physical exam and said, well, there's no evidence of 00:41:00rape. It's like, I don't know. What are we, three days passed? Anyway.

BOWERS HEALEY: Who pulled you out of class?

SCHUETTE: Somebody senior to me, I don't-- I don't know if it was a lieutenant or if it was another sergeant or whatever.

BOWERS HEALEY: Were you surprised that you were taken out of class?

SCHUETTE: Yeah. Yeah, I was.

BOWERS HEALEY: Surprised that they took you to the hospital?

SCHUETTE: Yes. Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And then after I was seen for the physical, then they sent me to mental health to be evaluated, because they felt that I was lying and that this was just a figment of my imagination and that I really wanted this to happen. And now I was just kind of sorry that it happened.

BOWERS HEALEY: Who-- did somebody say that to you?

SCHUETTE: The mental health specialist that I saw said that and put it in the 00:42:00report. And put it in the report. So, there was no recourse taken against the sergeant. The captain spoke to me rather harshly and said, you know, "this isn't acceptable lying" and dah dah dah dah dah. And I was like, well, I'm not lying. It did happen. But again, the barracks that I was in had a lot of these people from TDY, and they would go out and they would get pretty rip-roaring drunk, and then they would come back at bar closing time, and they would come into the barracks, and they would start slamming their locker doors and pulling people out of their bunks and just being angry and whatnot. So, that had to come from wherever they were before, I think. But I think it was also kind of there. There 00:43:00was also one of the women in our barracks that attempted to commit suicide. And I was there and most of the other women wouldn't do anything. And I called for help and they did come and they did take her to the hospital. And that was the last I saw of her. I know she survived. They took her to Walter Reed. I was able to find that much out. But she had-- she had given me her phone number because we were both kind of-- I don't want to say both kind of green, but both new to that aura. And once I got home, I tried to call it. And that number said there 00:44:00was no such person by that name there ever. So, I don't know if the number was wrong or if-- what happened, but that was a dead end for me. So, after that, and after a mental evaluation, then they sent me back, I think, once or twice more to talk to the mental health specialist. Then--

BOWERS HEALEY: Were you still attending your schooling?

SCHUETTE: No. After I was taken to the E.R., they stopped me from my class. They put me on company duty, so I was, you know, painting railings and whatnot and made the mistake of cleaning my brush on the grass in front of our billet. Got another--

BOWERS HEALEY: Cleaning your brush?

SCHUETTE: Yeah, the paint brush on the front of the grass, on the front of the billet that I was working on? Yeah, that was another, I don't know, twenty bucks 00:45:00or something, but-- [laughs]. I was wandering around pretty much in a daze. I didn't know what to do, who to call. I was kind of at the mercy of the people that were around me. And then I called the fellow that I knew from-- in the Reserve, and he said, you know, first of all, he didn't believe me either. But then he said he would call some friends of his and see if he could find out whatever.

BOWERS HEALEY: Was this somebody back in Wisconsin, when you say the Reserves?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: I should ask, when you join the military, did you join to be a reservist or active duty?

SCHUETTE: Active duty.

BOWERS HEALEY: Active duty. Okay.

SCHUETTE: I had hoped to be able to go on and get a skill that I could support myself with.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. So, you called back to somebody at the reserves center or 00:46:00the recruiting center?

SCHUETTE: This fellow that I had met. I had his phone number.

BOWERS HEALEY: Oh, did he work at the reserve station or not?

SCHUETTE: Part time. But, I mean, he was a reservist.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: But he was in charge of the motor pool. So, he was responsible for changing oil and whatnot. So, he helped me. And they gave me a choice. They actually wanted me to take a medical discharge, and I refused because that would have followed me the rest of my life. And I didn't feel like there was anything medically or mentally wrong with me. And so, he did help me. I got an honorable discharge. They discharged me one day before my six months. So, I essentially gave up any benefits, any claims for health issues, any kind of financial or 00:47:00medical or physical support. I took it and I ran. [Laughs]

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay, so, when were you actually-- you said one day short of six months. You came in in March?

SCHUETTE: Right, March 24th. And my discharge date was July 5th, so I don't know, I never did count, but that's what they told me. I wasn't eligible for anything. And I did talk to one of the Veterans Affairs people and essentially they told me the same thing. I was ineligible.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And recently within the last couple of years, I went back and talked to the veterans' people, and they said there wasn't even a military file on me. They had no record of a DD214 or of me being in the military at all. So, I don't know what happened, but I was. I have proof. I have my yearbook and I have my 00:48:00discharge orders. I do not have a DD214. I did have. I don't know what happened to it. But coming back, I really couldn't move back in with my mom because she was having a lot of mental health issues. And she was very paranoid by this time. She-- three years later, she died of a very large brain tumor. So.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did she-- was she concerned about why you had come back?

SCHUETTE: We never talked about it and I never told her about the rape.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: I just didn't feel like I could do that. I think that would have really destroyed her. I did talk to my dad about the rape, and he and my stepmother never made any offer for me to stay with them for a week or two until I could find a job or an apartment. So, I was pretty much left. And the fellow 00:49:00that I had talked to at the reserve said, well, you can come and live with me. So, I did. And for the next year-ish and a half, I didn't realize he was married at the time. And that he had a son that was three years old. But his ex-wife brought the son back to-- and essentially handed him to me when Richard was at work and said, "I can't care for him anymore. You need to take care of him." And left him with me. Michael was autistic. He was not born autistic. He had been abused. And I didn't find a lot of that out until much later. But-- so, my dad 00:50:00kept telling me, "Oh, you're--" you know, "you come from a Catholic family. You can't just live together. That's a sin. You need to get married. You need to get married. You need to get married." So, I married the guy because that was what I was hearing I needed to do. And that was jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He was very manipulative. He was very controlling. He lived in the country. We had no telephone. Again, that was miles away from anything. With an autistic child. I had never even babysat before. So, [laughs] it was a learning curve for Michael and for me. And I wasn't going to give up on him. He was a 00:51:00human being to me, and all human beings deserved a chance. So, Richard was all about, "well, we'll just put him in an institution." And I was like, yeah, no, we're not going to do that. I'm not going to let you do that. That's not happening. So, eventually, we did-- they started-- the government started a program called Child Find for children that were disabled. And he was evaluated. And the lady who evaluated wasn't overly thrilled with him because Michael took his shoe off and threw it at her. But I insisted that we try. And if he couldn't learn anything in a year, then I would-- I would say, okay, we can put him in an institution, and he can be managed there.

BOWERS HEALEY: How old was the child at the time?

SCHUETTE: I think he had turned four by the time we did the Child Find assessment. And so, the school district was kind of between a rock and a hard place. And the first teacher--

BOWERS HEALEY: Where were you living at the time?

SCHUETTE: Belgium. So, it was Port Washington School District. The first teacher he had, I think she was kind of overwhelmed with the amount of kids in the class. So, she would send homework home with him, and we would work on things. And he didn't talk initially. It took six months for me to get him to respond "ho ho ho" when I asked him what Santa Claus said. But he was learning. And so, I said, we need to go on. And then he got to a different school with Dolly 00:53:00[Musson??] as the assistant and Cathy Pinchot as his teachers. And they-- it was a world of difference. Michael started to open up. He started to communicate. He started to learn to read a few words. He later went out-- he was phenomenal at math. He can balance a checkbook better than I can with a computer. [Laughs] And he never forgets whatever was served on his birthday and the presents he got and who was at that birthday party. I mean, he has a memory like an iron trap.

BOWERS HEALEY: So, did you end up-- end up raising him?

SCHUETTE: Till he was twelve.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: Maybe thirteen, I'm trying to think. I was married to Richard eleven years. During that time, I gave birth to Jennifer, my oldest daughter, and I gave birth to Heather, my youngest daughter. Those are my only two birth 00:54:00children. But Richard, he pretty much stopped any attempt by me to learn any skills of any ability to be independent.

BOWERS HEALEY: So, when you came back from the military, you weren't able to get a job or hold a job?

SCHUETTE: I had no car, I had no money, I had no phone. I had no way of contacting anybody. We didn't have a paper. I didn't even know what was out there. I was like on an island. And he pretty much kept it that way.

BOWERS HEALEY: All righty. And then you--

SCHUETTE: Should have been a huge red flag, but it wasn't.

BOWERS HEALEY: You had two of your own daughters.

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And then I think Heather was about a year and a half or maybe two 00:55:00years old, and I-- my mother had passed away and the property had sold, so I had inheritance. I had about 30,000 dollars that came in in inheritance. And I, like a complete fool, put it in our joint savings account. And one day, I came home from work, and I worked in the gas station. So, the newspapers came in and I saw them, and there was a picture of my husband with the headline that said Richard to open up or reopen the bus line between Port Washington and Milwaukee. And I was like, "What?" And he said, "Yeah, I took the money, and I bought the line." 00:56:00And I'm like, "You took my inheritance money, and you bought us a company?" He's like, "Yeah, you're going to man the office during the day, and you can keep working your full-time night job." With, at that point in time, about a year-old baby. And I could do that for about a year. And then I collapsed from exhaustion. When I got back out, they suggested counseling for both Richard and me. We went to the first counseling appointment, and the counselor threw him out and looked at me and said, "Absolutely nothing is going to change as long as you're married to the man." So, when he went to summer camp, I made plans to move out into low-cost housing and take what I could and the girls and Michael, and he later won custody back of Michael because I was not Michael's mother, and 00:57:00it was several, several hard years for me. Different jobs, trying to support my family. He didn't voluntarily offer child support. So, the car that I had taken with me in the divorce had both of our names on it, and he came back in the middle of the night, took it, and sold it on me. So, I had no vehicle again. Like I said, he was very manipulative, very controlling, very much was not going to let me go. Was going to make it as difficult as he could. And when he started showing great favoritism to Jennifer and was punitive to both Michael and 00:58:00Heather, I suspected him of being up to something rather nefarious. And during our married life, I knew or I came to discover that he was gay, and he was bisexual, and he was into bestiality. And he was just--

BOWERS HEALEY: So, by this time you had divorced, and you were raising at least your two daughters by yourself?

SCHUETTE: Yes. Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And where did you live with your daughters?

SCHUETTE: Hartford.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: Hartford, Wisconsin. And he had visitation rights. And he was all about, okay, we can do a pro se divorce, which would be we each represent ourself. And then about a week before our court, he comes up with an attorney 00:59:00and paperwork and I had no ability to get an attorney and paperwork. And so, he had weekend unsupervised visitation and all kinds of stuff. And again, it was not a good situation. But one day, I went out for a walk, and I was like, okay, Lord, I'm here. I need a skill. So, whoever calls me back first with a job opportunity that I can better myself, that's where I'm going. And one of the nursing homes called me back and said, "We will pay you to complete six weeks certified nursing assistant training. But then after that, you will work for us for at least--" I think it was a year or two years. And that's the contract. But then you don't owe us for the schooling. Otherwise, you have to repay the schooling. So, I did that. And then as I got through with that, I discovered I 01:00:00could work with-- essentially, it's a staffing agency. We call them headhunters back then. And if I worked a single shift on Friday, a double Saturday and a double Sunday, of course, I was drop dead exhausted. But I was home during the week with the girls for when they went to school and Richard was taking them on the weekends anyway, so why should I sit around and just, you know, squirm and worry about what was happening, that I couldn't do anything about it?

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you stay as a nursing assistant and make your career?

SCHUETTE: I did that for a couple of years, and I also took EMT basic training with the Hartford Fire Department and EMS. And from there, I transferred to a job in West Bend working in the emergency room as a technician. And that was a 01:01:00rotating schedule, which was really difficult to stay awake with. And then, I did that for about a year, and then a position opened up in Plymouth for a straight nights technician. Well, I could do that, and I could go to nursing school during the day. And again, it was about a two-year blur in my life. But I got my LPN license. And after that, I kind of stayed an LPN and, you know, worked what I could, until Richard started calling the girls at two, three o'clock in the morning and waking them up where they were while I worked, and threatening that he was going to come pick them up and telling him that the 01:02:00child support checks were their money and I was holding out their money. And of course, by this time, they're kind of like teenagers and, you know, it was just-- it was a battle. It was a battle. He was supposed to keep health insurance on them, but he had them at a Milwaukee clinic so when they had an ear infection, I had to drive from Plymouth to Milwaukee to try and get them seen. Anyhow.

BOWERS HEALEY: So, did your girls end up going to high school and finishing high school?

SCHUETTE: Oh, yes. Yes. Both of them. Jen was actually in a really wonderful program, and then I had to-- I couldn't afford the rent anymore, and I had to move into a cheaper place, which took her out of that program and put her in a different high school. And she graduated, but there was a huge attitude change at that point in time. And then-- and then on a fluke, I met my current husband, 01:03:00JJ. James John. And one of the ladies I worked with and her husband were both part of an EMS that I took additional training with and recertification of my CPR and that kind of thing. So, I knew them pretty well. I knew Pam and Terry really well. And Jen was going with her cousin to some friends of ours for the weekend. They-- we all did Civil War enactment together. They were-- they were probably the only family my kid really-- kids really knew growing up. And Heather had a girlfriend, having a birthday party sleepover. So, I went by Pam and Terry. By this time, I had a car. Yay! Stick shift. They both had to learn stick shift. They'll tell you, they're thankful for it now, but they weren't then. And there was some kind of a raffle going on with the fire department and 01:04:00the EMS. And so I said, well, I'll come and help clean up or whatever. Anyway, so JJ was there selling raffle tickets and I had exactly five dollars in my pocket. And so, I bought, I don't know, the first round, I bought a ticket and I didn't win anything, and it was the end of the night, it was the last round, and he was coming around and he really didn't want to be there. He just, you know, anyway. So, I told him, I said after two beers! Two beers, that's what I had that night. I said, "If I don't win this time, I'm going to fight. I've got to bite you." [Laughs] Because I was a little bit more outgoing by that time. Well, the fellows in the fire department knew he was single, and they brought him over, and they insisted that I bite him. And it was like, at first it was just, 01:05:00you know, on the knuckle kind of thing. No, no, no, no, no, no, you gotta-- you got to bite his ear. And I'm like, oh God. So, he is red. I'm as red as my shirt. Okay, I said it. I'll live up to my word. But then after everything was cleaned up, we were headed back to Pam and Terry's house and JJ jumped in the van with us and I'm like, oh no. Here I did-- I went and I got myself into more trouble! And I'm like, Pam? And she's like, he's fine. I'm like, okay. [Laughs] So, we went back to his house-- not his house, but their house. And he lived right next door, which I didn't know at the time. So, it made sense for him to ride home with us, you know, back to their house with all of us.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay, so long story short, you ended up marrying him?

SCHUETTE: Yes. Twenty-four years in May of this year.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay.

SCHUETTE: And, you know, we dated for a while, and I was very hesitant about him even meeting my daughters. And our first official date was my oldest daughter's prom because I was involved with helping fundraising for the prom. So, I got a letter saying that I was invited to the dance. And originally I had said something about, let's just go bowling or pizza or something, you know, and we'd take Heather with us, and he could meet Heather, and then he'd meet Jennifer after the dance or before the dance, whatever. And he's like, "Well, you got invited to the dance. I think we should go." And I'm looking at the phone like, who are you that you are willing to go to the dance with me? And so, that was kind of the first thing. But he's the sweetest guy. And along, you know, we were 01:07:00dating a good thirteen months before he asked me to marry him. And at one point in time, during all of this. I had said something to my girls about, well, you know, this is-- this is where this is staying. I'm not bringing another guy into the house. And they both looked at me and said, listen, if he asks you to marry him and you don't, we just want you to know, it's like, bye, mom! We're going with him. And I'm like, oh, okay. So, he's like, okay. Now, both of my daughters obviously had better interpersonal skills than I did. So, it was like, okay, well, I'll think about it. We were talking one time and I said, listen, if I ever got married again, I didn't want an engagement ring. I was a nurse. You couldn't wear it. You know, it ripped the gloves and hurt people. I said, I want a house. So, one day he met me with the real estate ads, and he looked at me and 01:08:00he said, would you consider finding a house for us? And this is the house.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. All right. Skipping ahead a bit and back to your micro-interview, you indicated that one of your daughters joined the service and joined the Navy?

SCHUETTE: Yes. My oldest daughter, Jennifer, was out of high school about a year and a half. Her and her girlfriend were going to join the Navy together, but her girlfriend wound up pregnant. And so, Jen delayed going in the Navy until the-- her friend, Jennifer, gave birth, because she was going to be the coach. The father wanted nothing to do with any of it.

BOWERS HEALEY: So, she joined the Navy. And she was, what, eighteen, nineteen years of age?

SCHUETTE: Nineteen. And she joined April of 2001. So, we had 9/11 and she was at her duty station, which was a hospital. She became a hospital corpsman. And, you know, your heart sinks, you get this phone call. "Mom, the compound's completely closed down." We did have a cell phone at that time. She did.

BOWERS HEALEY: Where was she stationed?

SCHUETTE: Cherry Point, North Carolina. She took basic at Great Lakes. "Everything shut down. They told us to pack our bags. We don't know, TVs are off, radios are off, everything's closed. What's going on?" And I said, "Terrorists attacked the Twin Towers." And I said, "You're a hospital unit. 01:10:00You're probably going somewhere, honey." And of course, she was anxious and nervous and tearful, and we talked for as long as we could. And then I had to say goodbye.

BOWERS HEALEY: Before she joined the Navy, did she know that you have been in the Army?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: And what your experience was?

SCHUETTE: Yes. Yes, yes. She knew I had been in the Army. And she-- when I woke up, I always kissed my kids goodbye in the morning. And I always kissed him good night at night. I didn't care how old they were. They got kissed. And she said, "Mom, I'm going to join the Navy." And I said, "Before you sign anything, we need to talk. We need to talk." Because I said a couple things to her. I said, "One, you know my experience." I said, "I'm pretty sure things have changed a lot since then." Because they had come back and done the interview with me. And 01:11:00so, the government was aware of the sexual harassment, sexual abuse of all these women across the country.

BOWERS HEALEY: Going back to 1996, you said you found a hotline. How did you know about or find out about that?

SCHUETTE: It was advertised on the radio. I heard about it. And I actually waited for the second commercial because I was driving the first time and wrote the number down, and I called the hotline right away, and I got through and gave them my information and it was several months. And then I got a phone call followed by a letter that someone from the investigative team, from the government, would come and interview me. And they interviewed me at the public library in Plymouth. And I wish I would have saved the card and the letter. I didn't.

BOWERS HEALEY: And that interview was done by who? A military person or civilian?

SCHUETTE: No, it was a civilian. On whatever, I don't know, would it be FBI? Probably FBI person, I don't-- I don't honestly remember but he had--

BOWERS HEALEY: Did they ask you the name of the person or persons who had raped you?

SCHUETTE: Yes.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you give it to them?

SCHUETTE: At that time, I did. Don't ask me to remember it now. I've done enough therapy. I think I've kind of just blocked it. But at that interview, they asked me what happened, and I reiterated exactly the same thing that I've shared with you. And it was the same thing they had in the reports. So, there was a file on me with the military at that time. There is no longer.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did they give you a copy of the file?

SCHUETTE: No.

BOWERS HEALEY: Did you see a copy of the file?

SCHUETTE: No. But I do believe the interview was recorded. And he knew the 01:13:00details of what was in there. I mean, he told me, you know, some of the details.

BOWERS HEALEY: Back in 1996, '97, he knew the details.

SCHUETTE: Twenty years after the event. He did know the details of what I had reported then, you know, the subsequent I guess negotiation to get an honorable discharge and come home without benefits. And at that time, he came, and he wanted to know what I wanted from the military. And my feeling was the sergeant that had initiated the rape and the drugging, I'm guessing he was in his sixties and close to retirement twenty years earlier. So, he was undoubtedly, if alive, 01:14:00no longer in the military. If he had a family, I knew nothing about it. And it was like, I really just kind of want an apology for not being listened to, not being taken seriously. And so, you know, he shook my hand and he said, "On behalf of the federal government, I want to let you know that we seriously underestimated or ignored all of the complaints." And then he told me there were, like, 300,000 women that had called on the hotline, and the hotline was only initially to be up for two days, and it wound up being up for two weeks, and it would be months before they finished all of the investigation. But he said, "Had you asked me before this investigation, I would have told you were 01:15:00crazy." He said, "But I have heard the same story so many times in the last several weeks that I firmly believe everything that is in this report is just as you said it happened." And that was the beginning of healing for me. And so, I said, "That all I want. I don't want any other recollections." I said, "Don't go back and prosecute some guy that's probably corked out living in a nursing home." That's going to spend money that's senseless. You're not going to-- what are you going to do, put him in jail? It's like, just let it go. And they did. They didn't-- and that was the last I heard. And that was the last I did. Outside of the fact that between some of the EMS calls and ER visits and working 01:16:00as a nurse, things, and my first marriage being the nightmare it was, I've pretty much always kept up with the counselor and worked my way through many of the hurts, you know, starting with a dad that essentially walked away from being a dad to a mother who was paranoid and died from a brain tumor that nobody knew about, to, you know, the military and my experiences there and marriage and, you know, all of that stuff, all of that trauma, that kind of built up.

BOWERS HEALEY: How did you hear about the meeting in Manitowoc in January?

SCHUETTE: The I Am Not Invisible?

BOWERS HEALEY: Yes.

SCHUETTE: There was an article in our local paper, and I read it, and I had 01:17:00never considered myself a veteran. I had never, you know, when I discharged, I kind of felt like everything I had accomplished at Fort Jackson was kind of ripped away from me. And I read the article, and I thought about it for a couple of days. And I talked to my husband about it, and he said, "You know, that's going to be kind of hard." And I said, "Yeah, but I think I really need to do this. I need to share this story. And I think I'm not sure if other women are willing to step up and share what happened to them, but I hope they are, and I hope we can learn and not repeat those mistakes." And so, I contacted, and I made the reservation for the picture and the interview, and a lot of women there 01:18:00were either currently active duty or had good experiences. There were a couple of us there that had not such good experiences. And they, you know, they do a short interview with you then, but they take your picture. And the gentleman that took my picture, you know, was asking a little bit about, you know, what happened. And I shared with him, and I said, "I've never considered myself a veteran." And he looked at me and he said, "Well, today, you are a veteran." And I am. I am. And they wanted to know what I wanted on my banner, and I said something to the effect, and you can probably check the exact code, but even when nobody else believes in you or believes you, trust yourself. Army strong.

BOWERS HEALEY: To your knowledge, and I don't know how much you talk to your daughter who's-- is she still in the Navy or is she out?

SCHUETTE: She is a senior chief. She is one of eighty female senior chiefs in the U.S. Navy. I am so astounded. And she has just re-upped, so I am pretty darn sure she is going to be a master chief before she discharges, which is the highest rank you can get outside of becoming an officer.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. And as far as you know, besides being very proud of her, she's been in the service now for over twenty years.

SCHUETTE: Twenty-two, I think. Twenty-three.

BOWERS HEALEY: How has her experience been, if you know?

SCHUETTE: Well, I think because she had a lot more-- how do I say it, moxie? Or 01:20:00a lot less gullible-ness than her mother did and a lot less of the isolation background, I guess, that I had growing up because of all of the work and the school and, you know, I didn't really have friends or didn't go out and do things. I think she was much better adapted for it. But she met her husband in the military. And he was, I believe, gonna engage-- ask her to marry him and then Iraq invasion started, and he was here for Christmas, and he had to report, I don't know, like the day after Christmas or something like that. And he had said something like, he was not gonna ask her to marry him if he didn't know if 01:21:00he was coming back or if he was coming back in one piece. So, they waited and after he was-- wasn't discharged, but after he was reassigned, he went to Italy, and she took orders to Italy. And so, they kind of spent some time getting to know each other. And they later went on and got married. But I do think when she was on deployment on the ship, and that was the Peleliu [LHA-5], I think it was a little bit more rough and tumble, shall we say. And again, I don't know what the ratio was, but I think by that time, she was a petty officer and she was in medical. So, I think that whole job classification, I think it carried a little bit more respect because everybody on the ship knew if they got hurt, she was 01:22:00the one that was going to be helping to take care of them, you know? So, you didn't-- you didn't mess with your medics. You know, but there were Marines on the ship as well. And her mother would send care packages with stupid stuff in that apparently everybody loved, so I would get, like, the little plastic soldiers that had the umbrellas or-- not the umbrellas, but parachutes, that when you throw them up, they opened up. And I think she said they had about thirty or forty of the Marines out on the side of the ship, and they were launching these. So, it was something to distract, something fun and cute and whatever. And so, she was kind of popular. I don't think she had the issues, you know, and she was also very much able to give it back. To this day, she's-- you know, when they say swear like a sailor, oh, yeah, she can. She holds it down 01:23:00around mom, but she can. So, yes, I'm very proud of her. I'm also very proud of my other daughter. She went on to become a social worker, and she works in child protective custody. So, the experiences from her early life really went on to form a drive in her to take care of people that can't take care of themselves. And she works in Denver. So, I'm very, very proud of both of my daughters. They went far beyond that what I did.

BOWERS HEALEY: All right. Well, I think you covered everything that I was going to ask you about, but is there anything else that you would like to add to this interview for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum?

SCHUETTE: I guess I would like to add what happened to me should not have 01:24:00happened to anyone. Does it still happen? I'm sure it does. Does it happen to the same extent? I sincerely don't think so. So, I think there was some progress made. And that makes me feel better about things. But I don't want anybody to think that serving your country should be a bad thing or a traumatic thing. I know there's a lot of trauma in war. I know there's a lot of separation. Basic training taught me to stand on my own two feet and to be part of a unit that worked together. And that is huge. That is huge. And I can say now that I think 01:25:00the benefit from all of that now outweighs Aberdeen Proving Grounds. So, don't let my bad experience influence whether you go on to choose a military career or not. But do go in with your eyes open.

BOWERS HEALEY: Okay. Well, with that, thank you for having joined the Army. And thank you again for sharing your experience and the words of wisdom that you've given. With that, we conclude this interview.