Paratrooper from Medina dies at Fort Bragg

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 June 2014 at 12:00 am

Shaina Schmigel, 21, was recently promoted to sergeant

Schmigel

MEDINA – An Army paratrooper from Medina died on Friday when she was found unresponsive after a night jump at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

The Army is investigating the death of Shaina Schmigel, 21. She enlisted in the Army four years ago after graduating from Medina High School in 2010. She was promoted to sergeant in January and recently committed to four more years with the Army, said Krissi Gress, a friend of the family’s.

“Once she got in, she loved it,” Gress said. “She loved the discipline and the structure.”

Schmigel was also an intelligence analyst with the 82nd Airborne Division. She served a four-month tour of duty in Iraq in 2012. She was to be deployed to Italy with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Gress said.

Schmigel

Schmigel’s family has not been told details of her death. They’ve only been told she was found after a night-time training exercise.

“It has come as quite a shock,” Gress said.

Schmigel was a cheerleader at Medina. She spent most of her childhood in Batavia before moving to Medina about six years ago.

“She was an all-around good girl,” Gress said. “She had a peppy spirit and a big dimple.”

Schmigel excelled in the Army, taking many classes and gaining a promotion.

“She was doing everything she could,” Gress said. “Nothing was too out of reach for her.”

Schmigel is survived by her mother Karie, an older brother Matthew and a sister Sheniqua, 16, who is a student at Medina.

Orleans Hub reached out to the press office at Fort Bragg for any more information about  Schmigel’s death, but hasn’t heard back from Fort Bragg yet.

Gress said the Michael S. Tomaszewski Funeral & Cremation Chapel in Batavia will be handling funeral arrangements.