Mother-son New Jersey Guard sergeants heading to Iraq together
May 11, 2008 22:41 EDT

TEANECK, N.J. (AP) -- A 46-year-old combat medic and a 29-year-old man will be serving together in the same National Guard unit in Iraq.

What makes this news is: They're mother and son.

Sergeant Carmen Villegas, the combat medic, was transferred two weeks ago to the same New Jersey-based unit as her son, Sergeant Felipe Diaz.

The two will be among more than 2,800 soldiers of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who are heading to Iraq in September.

Villegas says it's difficult to think about her son going with her.

Besides her son, she'll have to worry about a husband. Villegas plans to get married this week to Victor Hernandez, a sergeant in a National Guard helicopter unit based near Trenton. He's scheduled to go to Iraq in January.