CARROLL, Iowa, March 24 (UPI) -- The parents of three brothers serving with an Iowa Army National Guard infantry unit bound for Afghanistan don't want their sons split up.
Mike, Scott and Tony Schon are members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry of Carroll, the Des Moines Register reported Wednesday.
But the National Guard is separating them to avoid the loss of all three if tragedy should strike.
"You don't want three Schon brothers sitting in the same Humvee when it gets hit by a rocket-propelled grenade," said Maj. Gregory Hapgood, Iowa National Guard public affairs officer.
All three brothers will still go to Afghanistan with Task Force 168, the 800-soldier Guard organization assigned to the mission, but they won't be with each other, Hapgood said.
However, Dale and Lori Schon of Carroll, the soldiers' mother and father, said they are still trying to keep their sons in the same western Iowa Guard unit they have trained in for years.
They said their sons have been told they will be stationed at least 50 miles apart in Afghanistan.
They have appealed for help from U.S. Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, and former Gov. Robert Ray.
During World War II brothers George, Francis, Joseph, Madison and Albert Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa, died when their ship, the USS Juneau, was torpedoed near Guadalcanal. Their deaths have been described as the single greatest sacrifice by an American family.
