Schafer, Michael Wayne

Michael Wayne Schafer served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade, part of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, known as Task Force Bayonet. His unit was based in Vicenza, Italy, and deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led military campaign that began in October 2001.

In July 2005, his battalion was operating in Uruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan. The provincial capital, Tarin Kowt, was a focal point for coalition and Afghan National Army operations against insurgent forces in the region.

On July 25, 2005, Staff Sergeant Schafer was killed during a hostile engagement in Tarin Kowt. According to U.S. Department of Defense casualty releases, he died from wounds sustained during an attack involving small-arms fire while on patrol.

His death was part of a sharp increase in violence during the summer of 2005, as insurgent activity intensified across southern Afghanistan. The 173rd Airborne Brigade sustained multiple casualties during this period of its deployment.

Schafer was 25 years old. He was a native of Spring Hill, Florida, a community north of Tampa. He is memorialized on the Afghanistan War casualty lists maintained by the U.S. National Archives and on local memorials in Florida.

Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan formally concluded in December 2014. Schafer was one of 2,356 American service members who died during that phase of the conflict, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan in which Schafer served, concluded in December 2014. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.

Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.

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