story courtesy of Morning Sun
Kathleen Schafer always knew her son was special.
As a young boy growing up in Beal City, her son Adam was involved and excelled in every sport he could possibly play. While sports helped him stay in shape physically, the mental lessons he took away from them were far more rewarding.
“He was always a joiner. He joined every club he could get into,” she said. “He did basketball, track, loved to run and that was one thing that made a big difference for him. Competing as a team and individually did a lot for him.”
Years later, Adam Schafer, 23, is now deployed in South Korea working as a medic in the Army. He has done so well that he has competed and won several top medic competitions worldwide and is now training for nationals, which takes place in October in Texas.
Adam Schafer graduated from Beal City High School in 2012 and spent his next four years studying biology at Northern Michigan University. While in school, he enrolled in the ROTC program and minored in military sciences after discovering his passion for the field.
Schafer signed up for active duty following his graduation last year and immediately began training to become a medic. Adam Schafer then won two medic competitions in South Korea and flew to Washington last summer to compete in the Regional Health Command Pacific’s Best Medic competition.
Going up against other medics from Washington, Hawaii and Japan, Adam Schafer did more pushups, sit ups and won the medical assistance portion of the competition to once again walk away with the trophy.
Now training for nationals, Adam Schafer will be paired with a random teammate and go against dozens of others from around the world.
After his six years of active duty are up, Kathleen Schafer said her son plans on staying in the medical field and has big dreams for his future. Wherever he ends up, however, his mother will always be proud of all he’s accomplished.
“I pinch myself sometimes wondering if this is real,” she said. “We’re very proud of what he’s done. He’s my hero for sure. He’s done a lot already and done a lot of things. He’s very proud of what he’s doing and he is very patriotic.”
