Siblings are not put in the same units in the military for a reason. It's a precaution used to prevent multiple deaths in a family in the event of a battle.

However, Jamie Serpenti and Toni Lord, two sisters from Levittown, were unknowingly put in the same unit due to their different last names.

And both were lucky to have come home safely in January.

"My whole unit came back. We were 100 percent," said Toni Lord, 26. "The way it is over there, there's no real frontlines. It's not like in the movies. When you go on convoys, the post that you are on constantly gets attacked."

Both sisters enlisted in the Army right after they graduated from high school. At 19, Lord wanted to see the world. Unsure of what she wanted to do, she decided to enlist. She was on inactive ready reserves when September 11 occurred and decided to activate her status.

"I was in New Mexico. As soon as I saw it happen, I was like, 'this isn't the peace time army anymore.' I called my recruiter, moved back to the reserves, signed papers Sept.12 and next month I was at a drill," said Lord.

Serpenti was already in basic training when September 11 occurred.

"I enlisted because I was doing poorly in school and wanted to do something with my life," said Serpenti, now 24. "Honestly, it turned my life around completely."

Upon deployment in February 2004, both sisters found themselves in the 424 Quarter Master Company in Balad, 40 miles north of Baghdad. Spending only nine days together at Camp Anaconda, they were sent to different bases and did not see each other for five months.

While separated, Lord was located to an office job, working with personnel and administration. Serpenti was sent to Abu Ghraib as an automated logistics specialist with 18 other soldiers for water purification and refueling. Her unit ran a supply point providing food, water and equipment to soldiers while taking other guns and artillery to units in need.

"We had nothing to do with the people who actually did that," said Serpenti about the Abu Ghraib military abuse issue. "They weren't even there when we got there. We had to deal with the press. Our base was always in the news. Naturally, I didn't like it because it was making my mother more nervous than I liked."

The relationship the girls have with their mother is an obvious close one. As it is for any soldier, being away from home, the U.S. and their family is most difficult. Both sisters pointed out that the past year in Iraq was the hardest thing they ever had to do.

"My mother was all alone," Serpenti said. "She went from having her two daughters to nobody."

Coping with the distance, the sisters wrote letters, sent emails and called as much as they could. Serpenti set up a website so that her mother could see pictures of her daughters while in Iraq.

"Thank God for the person who invented email, because that's the only way I talked to them," said Pat Serpenti, 53, the girls' mother, also of Levittown.

Both women have been thankful for the experience they received since enlisting. They find that joining the Army has changed their lives dramatically. Lord has been able to go all over the country and Korea. She even met someone and recently became engaged. Serpenti finds that joining the army made her more patriotic towards America.

"It certainly wasn't something that they asked my permission for, but I'm very proud," said the elder Serpenti. "Even though I was upset in the beginning, I can see the benefits and what the Army has done for them. They've accomplished a lot since signing up."

Since coming home, both girls have plans to continue their education. Lord wants to begin nursing school and is considering attending George Mason University. She already has plans to move to Virginia with her 5-year-old son, Donovan.

Serpenti is currently attending Nassau Community College to finish her Associate's degree in Liberal Arts and Humanities. She plans to pursue a medical career and become a doctor. She is currently looking into attending SUNY Albany Medical College.

Neither girl has received any notification of being sent back to Iraq. However, they both admit that if they had to go back, they would.

"Do I want to go again? Not particularly. I don't know anybody who wants to go," said Serpenti. "But I have to do what I signed up to do. That's what soldiers do - they go to war."

A provision found in the 1948 Selective Service System act provides that "a peacetime exemption for anyone whose parent or sibling was killed in action, died in line of duty, or died later as a result of disease or injury incurred in line of duty while serving in the armed forces of the United States." The provision also includes that those whose parent or sibling is in a captured or missing status as a result of service in the armed forces during any period of time is exempt. Similar to the movie, Saving Private Ryan, if there are four sons in a family and one dies in the line of duty, the remaining three would qualify for surviving son or brother status under the present law. In the case of Jamie Serpenti and Toni Lord, since officers in the army were not aware that they were siblings due to their different last names, they were assigned to the same unit. It was only after the fact that officers realized they were sisters.