GI Sisters Won't Go Back To Iraq

Two Wisconsin women whose sister and fellow soldier was killed in Iraq have decided against going back to their National Guard unit In Iraq. They will be reassigned to other duties outside the war-torn Mideast nation.

Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tim Donovan made the announcement at a news conference on Tuesday. The sisters did not attend.

Rachel and Charity Witmer said they were seeking reassignment to noncombat jobs after their sister, Michelle, died earlier this month.

"It's by far the most difficult decision we have ever made," the women said in a statement.

The women announced their decision after speaking with Wisconsin's adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Al Wilkening, who had advised them to seek reassignment outside Iraq, according to the statement read on behalf of the women by family friend Joan Apt.

"Although he said he could not order us to request reassignment, he was very clear to point out that a decision to return to Iraq might expose our fellow soldiers to increased danger. This we will not do," the statement said.

The women were concerned that increased attention on their units might put their fellow soldiers at risk, the statement said. The National Guard also had received recommendations from the sisters' unit commanders in Iraq.

"Both commanders asked Rachel and Charity not to return, not because these soldiers are not valid members of their units, but because they are," Donovan said, reading a statement from Wilkening.

Donovan said the military will seek suitable assignments for the sisters.

Defense Department policy allows soldiers from the family of one who dies while serving in a hostile area to request an exemption from serving in a hostile area.

Spc. Michelle Witmer, 20, who was killed April 9, served with the 32nd Military Police Company, the same unit as her 24-year-old sister, Spc. Rachel Witmer.

Soon after the death, members of the unit received word that its tour of duty was extended 120 days. They had expected to return home by early May, a year after they were sent overseas.

The sisters have been in the U.S. on a 15-day leave from Iraq.

Earlier, John Witmer had said he hoped his daughters would opt not to return to Iraq, though he understood it was their decision.

"I can't live another year like I've lived this one," Witmer said. "The sacrifice that this family's made can never be understood by someone who hasn't gone through it."

Since at least the early part of World War II, the Pentagon has had policies to protect families with multiple service members. After three brothers died in the sinking of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, the Navy instructed that, "commanding officers will not forward requests for brothers to serve in the same ship or station."

" … It is to the individual family interest that brothers not be put on the same ship in war time, as the loss of such a ship may result in the loss of two or more members of the family, which might be avoided if brothers are separated," the order read.

That did not prevent the five Sullivan brothers from serving together on the USS Juneau, and dying together when the light cruiser was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in November 1942.

Besides preventing siblings from serving together, the military has also given special consideration to service members who have lost a relative in combat.

"In recognition of the sacrifice and contribution made by a family which has lost two or more sons who were members of the armed forces and has only one surviving," said a 1944 Navy policy, "consideration will be given to his return to, or retention in, the continental limits of the United States, except when he is engaged in nonhazardous duties overseas."