Tim Schochenmaier has worked with young children throughout his career as a first-grade teacher and elementary principal, now at Otter Lake Elementary in White Bear Township. But as a 10-year member of the Minnesota National Guard, he also did a tour in Iraq.
Last week, when he presented a slide show on his Army experience for the school's fifth-graders, he paused at a photo of an Iraqi girl, perhaps about their age, whose broken arm was splinted with pieces of cardboard and tape.
He also showed a photo of a grandiose palace entrance.
"Not more than five miles away, people were living in a landfill," he said. "This is how they're feeding themselves. They don't know anything different."
This is the sixth year Schochenmaier has made a Veterans Day presentation, which centers on pictures he took reflecting his day-to-day experiences in Iraq in 2003-2004. Some are poignant, while others are practical: Rows of cots in the communal tent where he slept; the bulk of his 120-pound rucksack; a photo of a thermometer registering 135 degrees.
He described the excitement among the troops when "containerized housing units," which were air-conditioned, replaced the tents. On the lighter side, there was a photo of a soldier skiing down a sand dune during R&R.
One photo depicts a caravan of camels, and he told the children that during target practice, soldiers were advised not to miss and hit a nearby camel, lest the camel's owner demand compensation.
He asked the children to guess how much a camel might be worth; their guesses ranged from $500 to $1 million -- $40,000 was the mark.
Along with the photos, Schochenmaier described the sulfur smell from burning oil wells and the everyday irritating problems.
"Scorpions sometimes would crawl into your boots," he told the children, so it was advisable to take the precaution of shaking boots upside down before putting them on.
Schochenmaier was an Army specialist in an engineers company, building security around the base and disposing of improvised explosive devices. A photo of a pile of roadside bombs, a remnant of the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980's, illustrated one of his duties.
One student asked the principal what he considered the hardest part of his military service.
"Being away from my family," he said. His encampment had hundreds of soldiers and only eight telephones, he said, and at times he would stand in line for four or five hours to get a chance to call home.
At Otter Lake Elementary, fifth grade is the first in which students study combat -- the Revolutionary War. Some students' only connection with war is through playing video games, but when the principal talks to them, he doesn't permit questions about whether he saw anyone get hurt or if he hurt anyone.
"It's not a game, and it's not cartoonish," Schochenmaier said.
Instead, he asks the students to keep an eye out for people in military dress and those whose vehicles have veteran license plates. If they meet someone who has served in the military, he said, "Shake their hand and say thanks."
Debra O'Connor can be reached at 651-228-5453. Follow her at twitter.com/ DebOConnorPP.