Sisters weigh return to units

BROOKFIELD, Wis. (AP) -- The sisters of a National Guard member killed in Iraq say they must weigh the needs of two families -- the one at home and their own military units overseas -- as they decide whether to return to the war zone.
Rachel and Charity Witmer were granted a 15-day leave from the Guard after their sister, Spc. Michelle Witmer, 20, died when her humvee was attacked in Baghdad Friday.
"We are conflicted, because we have two families and we can't be with both at the same time," said a statement read Tuesday on behalf of the women by family friend Joan Apt.
Rachel, 24, serves in the same 32nd Military Police Company as Michelle, while Charity, Michelle's twin sister, was sent to Iraq late last year as a medic with Company B of the Guard's 118th Medical Battalion.
Military policy
Defense Department policy allows soldiers from the family of one who dies while serving in a hostile area to request an exemption from serving in a hostile area. That request must come from the soldiers themselves, but the family said the sisters are deferring that decision for now.
The teary-eyed sisters leaned on their mother and father, Lori and John Witmer, as the statement was read to reporters Tuesday at Elmbrook Church in suburban Milwaukee. Their two brothers also were with them.