Nunies' classmates now are part of the 100th as it prepares for a year-long deployment to Iraq.

Even one of his former baby sitters is going.

And finally, so is the 20-year-old Kalihi man.

Nunies, a reservist with the U.S. Army Support Unit for Japan, was prevented from becoming an infantryman because he is colorblind. Now he has transferred to the 100th as a mailman.

The 2002 Farrington High graduate was moved into the unit to meet the demand.

"I'm happy," he said by phone from Schofield Barracks, where the 100th is quartered and undergoing training. "Finally I got to be in the unit my grandpa and my dad served in."

The 100th merged with the 442nd in 1944, and the units have the distinction of being the most decorated in U.S. military history.

"If people really understand the history (of the 100th, 442nd), oh, man," said Nunies' father, Herman, 52, who retired last year as operations sergeant major.

Hawai'i soldiers of the 442nd fought in eight major campaigns in Italy, France and Germany, earning more than 18,000 individual decorations, including at least 20 Medals of Honor, 9,486 Purple Hearts and seven Presidential Unit Citations, the nation's top award for combat units.

In 1968, the 442nd was one of the Army Reserve units mobilized to refill the Strategic Reserve during the Vietnam War.

The unit fought for — and just won — the right to wear its unit patch in Iraq as part of the deployment of about 3,600 citizen soldiers from the Hawai'i Army National Guard's 29th Separate Infantry Brigade. The 100th's six-sided patch shows a hand holding a torch.

The brigade includes about 575 reservists in the 100th, 442nd from Hawai'i, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan.

Brig. Gen. Joe Chaves, who commands the 29th Brigade, recently decided to allow the 100th to wear its own patch while assigned to 29th. Chaves previously said the unit would have to wear the 29th's patch.

The younger Nunies, who was an Eagle Scout, said he joined the reserves for "tradition, for family, and the benefits for school."

His grandfather died in 1990. Herman Nunies served on active duty in Thailand in 1972 and 1973 during the Vietnam War.

"It's a real decorated unit. It will never be forgotten," Pfc. Isaac Nunies said. "It's just that we need to make our own name for this generation now."

The 29th Brigade leaves in October for additional training in Texas, will arrive at Fort Polk, La., in January for combat certification, and will depart for Balad north of Baghdad in Iraq in February or March.

Isaac Nunies, who went through basic training after he graduated from high school, said active duty soldiers come together from all over the country to bond as a unit.

"But with the 100th and 29th Brigade, it's like being with the guys we've known since we were young," he said. "So you already have that close bonding with them. That helps a lot. You know you have that trust."

Nunies said every day, "I see like five new faces (of people I know). Some guys in the 100th, when I was a baby, they used to baby-sit me."

The 100th, 442nd has become a family affair for not only the Nunies, but many other Hawai'i families as well.

"We had a family support group meeting and the wives are just as much with (the 100th soldiers) in wearing the patch (in Iraq) and how much that means to them," said Nunies' mother, Ramona.

Herman Nunies, a city bus driver, said he worries about his son going to war, like any parent, but is proud of what his son is doing, adding, "with the training, they are doing a good job.

"Let me tell you this: Once you are in the 100th Battalion, the 100th will never leave you," Herman Nunies said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.