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Joe, Jim Snow withstand heat, serve together  Sergeant Major Jim Snow, left, and his younger brother, 1st Sgt. Joe Snow, deployed together in early 2008 to Iraq.
“We live about six miles apart (in Benton and Bryant, respectively),” said 1st Sgt. Joe Snow, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 39th Brigade Combat Team first sergeant. “Here, it’s about 30 steps.”
Joe Snow is on his second deployment with his older brother, Sgt. Maj. Jim Snow, 39th BCT operations sergeant major. The brothers previously deployed to Iraq in April 2004.
The bond between the brothers brought them both back to the Middle East; Jim was scheduled to return, but Joe was not.
“I didn’t want him here by himself,” said Joe. “I didn’t join the Army to sit on the sidelines.”
“It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re picking teams,” said Jim. “You don’t want to be sitting on the sidelines when everyone’s playing.”
In the chaotic world of a constantly evolving war zone, the Snow brothers see some normalcy in each other.
“It’s good to see him — I see home,” said Jim, noting that the inverse is true as well. “The pendulum swings both ways. … If there was an attack, I’d want to know right away that he was OK. I would be worried about him.”
Jim echoed his concerns for his younger brother’s safety and feels the deployments have brought them closer.
“It’s easier for me, having him here,” said Jim. “It gives me a source to vent to.”
The Snows come from a long family history of military service. Their father spent time in the Navy, and their grandfather served in the Army. Even with the Snow legacy of service behind them, they both agreed that it was tough on their families to have them both deploy at once.
“Our wives are pretty tight. It has the same effect on them as it does on us — they have someone there for them,” said Joe, currently on his fourth deployment.
“Our mom … she worries a lot,” said Jim. “Dad worries, too — he just doesn’t tell anyone.”
Neither brother ever expected to make a career out of the Army.
“I never expected to last past my initial enlistment,” Jim said. “I started looking for something, for my future.”
“He was already in when I enlisted,” Joe said, who is seven years younger than his brother. “When I was a kid, I wanted two things – to be in the Army and to be a policeman. So, I enlisted as a military policeman.”
As children, the age difference between the brothers kept a distance between them. After Joe’s time in the active Army was over, he returned home and joined his brother in the National Guard. It was then that the brothers became closer.
“When I came home, that’s when it transitioned and became more of a friendship than just a brotherhood,” said Joe. “I was grown up then, not just a kid anymore.”
The brothers see each other every day here, if only in passing. Both agreed that their favorite moments in this deployment have been the cookouts they’ve shared.
“Joe cooks every other week,” said Jim. “It gives us a chance to throw the radios down and relax.”
“It gives us our little ‘out of the Army’ moments,” laughed Joe.
Both Snow brothers have about six months left on this current deployment. Neither one is sure how much longer they will serve in the National Guard upon their return to the United States.
Regardless of when their service to their country ends, they always will have the satisfaction of knowing that they did it together — as soldiers, as brothers, as friends.
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