10th Mountain Division Siblings Reunite While Deployed

KANDAHAR - Capt. Jessica Russell, a finance officer, hadn't seen her brother, Sgt. Josiah Russell, in nearly 7 months. Before then, they'd not seen each other in almost 2 years, due to his Iraq deployment and her assignment as a basic training company cmdr.

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In a casual conversation with her battalion command sgt. maj., Command Sgt. Maj. Roy Rocco, regarding her brother, his upcoming reenlistment, and being deployed to the same country, she mentioned wanting to see him and being a part of his momentous occasion, before he redeployed back to Fort Drum. "To be totally honest, I didn't think anything would come out of the whole conversation with the sgt. maj.," said Jessica. Meanwhile, in northern Afghanistan's Balkh prov., Josiah thought of the possibility of coming down and seeing big sister Jessica, but his busy schedule always dictated otherwise. The 23-year-old sgt. is serving as a member of the Quick Reaction SECFOR at Camp Mike Spann, in Mazar-e-Sharif. When he's not pulling security out on patrols, Josiah serves in the camp's fire dept., and is preparing to redeploy back to the U.S. "I just came back from a mission when my platoon sgt. approached me and said I had to go see the command sgt. maj. (Philip Chepenik) with my squad leader. I'll admit, I was a bit concerned, and didn't know what to think," said Josiah. Back in Kandahar, Rocco gathered all of Josiah's info from Jessica, and contacted his old Fort Drum neighbor, Command Sgt. Maj. Philip Chepenik. "Chepenik sent me an e-mail back stating he would work it on his end. A couple of days later Captain Russell contacted me, stating that her brother would be coming down on the 20th to reenlist," said Rocco. "I was really excited that my brother was coming down, and couldn't wait to see him. The sgts. maj. really came through for us," Jessica said. After meeting with his sgt. maj., Josiah was told to pack his bags and head to Kandahar, where he met his sister and spent the next few hours catching up, and taking photos to send home to their proud mother. Approx 5 years ago, Jessica, a young Army officer, took Josiah, a local farm-hand, to their local Army recruitment center, and convinced him to join. Once the contract was drawn up, she swore him in. "I was glad to see my sister. I started to think it wasn't going to be possible to see her out here, but here we are, just like before, her swearing me in again. I wouldn't want it any other way," Josiah said. The Russell's have made the service a family affair. Aside from Jessica and Josiah, they've another brother, Justin, currently serving in the NG. Jessica enlisted him as well. "I'm proud of our service. I feel the military is a great institution, allowing many opportunities to excel. I wouldn't want anything else for my family," Jessica said.

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