Twins Are Literally Brothers in Arms in Iraq

When the much-anticipated Time magazine with the picture of U.S. Army soldier Fernando Borboa on the cover arrived at his parents’ home, his mother cried.

Her sons, Fernando and his identical twin, Cesar, had been saying they were fine, but the image on the cover told Martha Borboa otherwise. In the photo taken during a raid in Baghdad, Fernando was propped up against a wall, holding a rifle and looking up at the sky with a confused look on his face.

“He looks as though he’s guarding himself from something,” the Hacienda Heights mother said. “His expression says, ‘What’s happening here?’ and he has dark circles under his eyes. My son looks so tired.”

Martha and her husband, Jose, worry about their sons, who are both in Iraq, but they take comfort in the fact that they can look out for one another since they are assigned to the same unit, the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division.

There is no policy that precludes family members from serving in the same unit, an Army spokesman said.

The military guarantees that relatives can be together through their first assignment, said Julia Bobick, a spokeswoman for the Army recruiting command. After that, they may be assigned to different units, she said.

“In everything, since they were little, they found a way to be together,” said Martha, 43, in Spanish. “Whatever one does, the other does as well.”

Fernando and Cesar, 21, have shared a bond since birth. They played T-ball together, helped each other with their chores and, if one was grounded, the other would voluntarily take part in the punishment.

“If we punished one and told him to sit down and that he couldn’t watch television all afternoon, the other would follow,” said Jose, 51.

“I would tell him he wasn’t grounded,” said Martha, “but he would say, ‘No, it’s OK, Mom.’ ”

At South Hills High School in Covina, the twins were on the cross-country team and competed in a couple of state competitions.

So it was no surprise when they announced their plans to join the military.

“I think that when they were in high school a recruiter spoke with them,” said Martha. “They came home very enthused about it but I told them to go to college.”

To her, a military career seemed very difficult, she said. But to them it was an opportunity to serve their country.

“They are so proud of serving their country,” she said.

They attended classes at Mt. San Antonio Community College in Walnut for a year before enlisting in 2001, with the condition that they serve in the same unit, she said.

“I broke down crying,” Martha said. “The boys had never been separated from us.”

The Borboas, who also have two daughters, Valerie, 15, and Viancca, 11, are proud of the twins and await their letters and phone calls.

They also worry. When a soldier from the 1st Armored Division was shot point blank at Baghdad University in July, they immediately thought of their sons.

They were relieved when Cesar called to say they were all right. Now, when they hear that someone from that unit is killed, Jose and Martha just wait.

Military personnel usually inform the family of a death within 48 hours, she said.

“When the 48 hours are up,” Martha said, “you thank God.”