Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
November 11, 2006
Pg. B2
Brother follows siblings to Iraq
By Associated Press
FORT LEWIS -- Growing up, Charlie Parsons played sports, liked to travel and enjoyed learning other languages -- just like his older twin brothers.
When they went off to West Point, Charlie soon followed.
Now, four months after Capt. Bill Parsons and Capt. Huber Parsons III deployed to Iraq, younger brother Charlie is again following their lead.
"I didn't really look at it as following in their footsteps. We just have similar interests," said Charlie, a second lieutenant from Miami, Fla., who also has a twin sister, Christine, a high school teacher in Jackson, Miss.
All three brothers are members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis. When Charlie leaves for Baghdad on Monday, two days after Veterans Day, he and his brothers will join an unknown number of siblings serving together in the military.
The Army doesn't maintain a database of family members serving at the same time.
One of the most famous military families was the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who died during World War II when their Navy ship, the USS Juneau, was struck Nov. 13, 1942, by a Japanese torpedo.
Their deaths resulted in the Navy discouraging family members from serving together on the same ship, but policy doesn't exist that prohibits relatives from doing so.
The Parsons, while in the same brigade, likely will have little opportunity to see each other.
Huber, 28, will soon take command of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, and twin brother Bill is slated to lead A Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
Charlie, 23, will receive a new assignment after he deploys to Baghdad for eight months.
November 11, 2006
Pg. B2
Brother follows siblings to Iraq
By Associated Press
FORT LEWIS -- Growing up, Charlie Parsons played sports, liked to travel and enjoyed learning other languages -- just like his older twin brothers.
When they went off to West Point, Charlie soon followed.
Now, four months after Capt. Bill Parsons and Capt. Huber Parsons III deployed to Iraq, younger brother Charlie is again following their lead.
"I didn't really look at it as following in their footsteps. We just have similar interests," said Charlie, a second lieutenant from Miami, Fla., who also has a twin sister, Christine, a high school teacher in Jackson, Miss.
All three brothers are members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis. When Charlie leaves for Baghdad on Monday, two days after Veterans Day, he and his brothers will join an unknown number of siblings serving together in the military.
The Army doesn't maintain a database of family members serving at the same time.
One of the most famous military families was the five Sullivan brothers of Waterloo, Iowa, who died during World War II when their Navy ship, the USS Juneau, was struck Nov. 13, 1942, by a Japanese torpedo.
Their deaths resulted in the Navy discouraging family members from serving together on the same ship, but policy doesn't exist that prohibits relatives from doing so.
The Parsons, while in the same brigade, likely will have little opportunity to see each other.
Huber, 28, will soon take command of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, and twin brother Bill is slated to lead A Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment.
Charlie, 23, will receive a new assignment after he deploys to Baghdad for eight months.