America's North Shore Journal

Yes, today we feature good looking twins. Female type military personnel. Twins, dammit!

Picking on old media, even.

Twin sisters Sgt. Tasha Gerken, right, and Sgt. Ashley Gerken look through a “Stars and Stripes” newspaper, changing words of the headlines into humourous phrases. It’s a hobby the two picked up while deployed to Kuwait. Photographer: Staff Sgt. Christopher Jones 40th Public Affairs Detachment

DoD

Sgt. Tasha Gerken is left-handed.

It’s an important bit of information if you want any chance of distinguishing her from Sgt. Ashley Gerken, her twin sister.

Of course, through their eyes, there are plenty of differences.

“You wouldn’t want two Tashas,” said Ashley, smiling at her sister.

“It’s better than two Ashleys,” her sister responds.

Deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, the Iowa-born twins are truck drivers in the 217th Transportation Company, supporting Third Army/U.S. Army Central.

Ashley and Tasha are virtually indistinguishable by appearances, and they have been known to play tricks on members of their unit.

Sometimes Tasha’s squad leader, Staff Sgt. Timmie Wilkins, approaches his Soldier to relay information to her, unaware that Tasha is not really Tasha.

“It’s confusing,” said Wilkins. “I go up and talk to this one [pointing at Ashley], and she’ll just let me go on and on”¦”

“I have to get the same information twice,” quipped Tasha.

If life seems complicated as one of the Gerken’s squad leader, imagine being a boyfriend.

Ashley recalls a time in high school when a guy she was dating got a little confused.

“Her boyfriend got mixed up after [Ashley] left the room,” said Tasha, “and he came up to me and starting touching my leg and hugging me. I was like, “˜um, hello?’”

The Gerkens’ Army career began in Manson, Iowa, after their junior year at Manson Northwest Webster High School. At this time, the twins were off to Basic Training. They went to Advanced Individual Training upon graduating the following year.

The Gerkens’ primary mission in theater isn’t actually in Kuwait – the twins drive heavy equipment transporters, distributing cargo to various camps in Iraq.

Dangerous as their job is, their unit ensures the Gerken twins are never in the same convoy while in Iraq.

“What it boils down to is that if something happens [on the road], you don’t want it to happen to both of them,” said Wilkins.

With such a rule in place, the Gerkens don’t often get to see each other, even though they are deployed to the same camp. But both Ashley and Tasha say they know it’s for the best, especially with the peace-of-mind it offers their other family members back home.

However, Ashley and Tasha aren’t used to being away from each other; in fact, the first time one went on a mission in Iraq was the longest they had ever been separated.

“Back home, we spend every minute together,” said Ashley. “We spend a lot less time together here because of [the mission].”

And during these times of separation, family members are quick to remind the sisters to not only keep in touch with family back home, but also with each other. “I’ll get e-mails from mom,” said Ashley, “and she will say, “˜Tasha misses you. E-mail her.’”

But when they do get the chance to be together at Camp Arifjan, they take advantage of it.

“We don’t spend much time away from each other when we’re both here,” said Ashley. “We’re lucky to have family here, and we’re best friends.”

Sibling rivalries may be common, especially among twins, but Ashley and Tasha consider themselves unique since they rarely argue and jealousy is hardly an issue ““ “except when I get more comments on [the Web site] Myspace,” says Ashley. “[Tasha] gets kind of jealous when that happens. She’s like, “˜Why did mom leave you a comment and not me?’”

Their friendship is such that whenever the two discuss future plans, the plans normally include each other.

After their redeployment, they plan on settling down in El Paso, Texas, a place they “fell in love with” while being mobilized at nearby Fort Bliss.

They want to buy several acres of property to build a ranch, where they can breed horses.

For their family in northwestern Iowa, El Paso isn’t as close as they would like to be to the twins, but at least they can rest easy, knowing they’ll be in good company.

“We’re so used to being together that we always find a way to hang out,” said Tasha. “It’s just natural for us to be together.”