Brothers distance goes from entire continent to 200 ft

Lance Cpl. Michael Stevens

AT-TAQADDUM, Iraq (June 14, 2008) –Sergeant Jason White, a Marine assigned to Detachment Alpha, Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), and Spc. Wesley White, a soldier with Bravo Company, 1-52 Army Aviation Regiment, have the luxury of a having a brother around to help them through their deployment.

“I still can’t get over it,” says Jason, the younger brother at 27. “We both joined the military and got stationed on completely different sides of the country, now we’re both deployed at the same time, to the same location in Iraq; it’s just amazing.”

Stateside, Jason is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., while his brother Wesley, 29, is on the opposite side of the U.S. at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

With the deployment to Camp Taqaddum, the nation-wide gap between the two brothers is now closed to no more than 200 feet.

The Hopewell, Va., natives, conveniently have work stations facing each other on the Camp Taqaddum flight line, allowing for a quick walk to meet one another.

“Having my brother here has definitely made this deployment more tolerable,” said Wesley.

The two often meet at the chow hall to eat with one another, or stop by each others living area at the end of shift to talk, explained Jason.

Sharing more than just a blood line, the brother’s work in the same occupational field for their respective services. Both are hydraulic mechanics; Wesley on the CH-47 Chinook and Jason, trained on the MV-22 Osprey.

“It’s been an awesome experience to see the similarities and differences in the way the two services do similar jobs,” they both explained.

Though they’re not sure when or how often they’ll get to see one another once the deployment ends, the two are enjoying each other’s company and value the time they spend deployed together.