The deployment will come just five months after the family's older son returned safely from a nine-month stint in Afghanistan. For the Ikedas, the next months will be a trying time, but they said they're prepared.

"It's not easy," said Eve Ikeda, who has been married to Master Sgt. Craig Ikeda for 26 years. "But he's been in the National Guard for 39 years and when you're in the Guard, you can't just take the benefits."

Craig Ikeda, along with his younger son, Pvt. Jared Ikeda, 20, are scheduled to leave Oct. 4 for training at Fort Bliss in Texas. Some time in February or March, the two will be sent to Iraq.

In May, the Ikedas' older son, Cadet Christopher Ikeda, 24, returned from Afghanistan, where he served as a mechanic. All three Ikeda men are with the National Guard.

Guard spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony said it is not unique, though uncommon, to have a father and child deployed with the Guard at the same time.

At 57, Craig Ikeda is one of the oldest members of the Guard to be activated. The salesman for Xpedx Hawai'i said he's concerned about the deployment, particularly because Jared is in the infantry and will be on the front lines.

"It's good and bad," Ikeda said of the double deployment. "Good in the sense that I'll be able to know at least what's happening because I'll be in the same theater. Bad that both of us will be put in harm's way."

But he said they are well-trained and well-equipped and he is confident they will return safely.

"I feel this will be a good deployment," he said.

Jared, who put off enrolling at Kapi'olani Community College after his unit was activated, said that he feels "comfortable" about going, but that he never imagined being deployed at the same time as his father.

"I probably won't be able to see him, but I know he'll be in good hands while he's with the main body of the brigade," said Jared, who joined the Guard because he said it was a family tradition.

Both men received advice from Christopher Ikeda, who enrolled at the University of Hawai'i after returning from Afghanistan and now is a member of the UH ROTC. Christopher has talked about surviving in the desert and how to get their hands on "local" food.

Christopher said serving in Afghanistan was a good way for the family to learn to cope with a loved one being far away. But now it'll be his turn to be at home while his father and brother are at war.

"I'm confident that anything that can be done and will be done is being done and so the chance of anything happening is way down," he said.

Craig Ikeda said he admires his two sons for joining the Guard.

"I'm very proud that they both are in the Guard," he said. "That's something that they chose themselves.

"They saw what I did and they felt that it was part of their duty also."

The Ikedas are a deeply religious family, and Eve Ikeda said she has placed their fate in the hands of God. Still, she said she has to accept the prospect that one or both of her men may not return alive.

But she said she is grateful that she will have Christopher with her during the deployment. She and her husband also have two daughters.

"My oldest son is back, and he said, 'Don't worry. We'll go out once a week on a date like you and Dad. So nothing will change,' " she said.