GREGG KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sgt. Shirelle Nuuanu and her twin sister, Spc. Schenelle Nuuanu, have both received calls to serve in Iraq.
Sergeant prepares twin
for duty in IraqShirelle Nuuanu will finish her
tour just as sister Schenelle
leaves for a year
"Stay alert." "Never go out alone." "Always have a battle buddy nearby."
Above all, "Always stay in your 'battle rattle,'" are the words of advice Sgt. Shirelle Nuuanu has for her twin sister, Spc. Schenelle Nuuanu, as she prepares for a one-year deployment in Iraq early next year.
Sgt. Nuuanu is completing a combat tour in Baghdad with the 671st Engineer Group from Portland, Ore., while her sister is preparing to muster at Schofield Barracks next month with the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), which received its mobilization orders Dec. 2.
By "battle rattle," Sgt. Nuuanu, 23, was referring to the combat gear each soldier is issued ranging from interceptor body armor that will protect her upper body from assault rifle rounds and shrapnel to a helmet and protective gas mask.
"Be smart," Sgt. Nuuanu added, "and be aware of your surroundings."
The twin sisters joined the 411th after graduating from Waianae High School in 1998.
"I think we were influenced by our experiences in JROTC," Spc. Nuuanu said, "and we always did things together. "We played on the varsity softball team. We took jujitsu and hula together."
But Sgt. Nuuanu moved to Portland because of job opportunities and transferred to the Oregon Army National Guard in June 2001. On Jan. 22, the Portland unit was activated and she found herself preparing for combat duty in Iraq as a heavy equipment wheel mechanic. By March 20, her Oregon unit was seeing combat duty with the 3rd Infantry Division.
Sgt. Nuuanu, who as a civilian makes microchip wafers for Intel Corp., has had one close call before the May 1 cease fire occurred.
"We had been called out to recover U.S. vehicles that had been smashed," she said. "We were less than a mile away when Special Forces came up to us and warned us of a potential ambush."
She described her five months in Iraq as "hell."
"It is so scary there," Sgt. Nuuanu added. "I feel so blessed. Every day there are explosions going off all around us. The reason soldiers get hurt or killed is because they are careless."
She wears a silver metallic bracelet to honor a member of her unit -- Spc. Brandon Tobler, who was killed March 22 during a night convoy movement -- as well as a reminder that she is in a war zone.
As her twin sister begins the work-up with the 411th for an Iraqi combat tour, Sgt. Nuuanu wants her to remember to never let down her guard. "I want her to remain focused."
Spc. Nuuanu, who is the oldest twin by a minute, said her sister's horror stories on the conditions in Iraq have prepared her for the worst.
"I never thought any unit here would be activated," said Spc. Nuuanu, who is a respiratory assistant at Queen's Medical Center.
When she and her sister enlisted with the 411th five years ago, "We never thought we would ever be at war," said Spc. Nuuanu, who was a land surveyor in the Hawaii Army reserve unit until she was assigned to Headquarters & Service Company.
"It was a pretty scary thought" when her sister called home from Portland to say she was going to Iraq.
The 540 soldiers in the 411th are assigned to companies in Hawaii, Guam and Fairbanks and Anchorage in Alaska. Approximately 350 are from Oahu, Hawaii and the Big island. They are expected to be a part of the 1st Cavalry Division, which will probably replace the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad.
