MILITARY FAMILY—From left, father Joe Tindall, Drew and Ashley Dias, Blake Tindall and mother Julie Tindall pose together at Veterans Plaza in Simi Valley. Twins Ashley and Blake both did tours in Iraq as members of the Marine Corps. Father Joe is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam and Ashley’s husband, Drew, is a fellow Marine. For twins Blake and Ashley Tindall, there was never any question they would join the military.

Their decision was founded in family tradition: They would follow in the footsteps of their father, their aunt and their grandfathers.

Born and raised in Simi Valley, the boy-girl duo did everything together, and their competitive natures were especially wellsuited to sports. While attending Royal High School, their cross country success earned them the nickname “The Running Twins.”

Today, at age 26, Blake and Ashley have different titles: Marine Corps Sergeant and Corporal, respectively. They’re also war veterans.

Passion to serve

Blake, who is four minutes older than Ashley, enlisted in the Marines first, in February 2003. He did so out of a sense of duty and patriotism.

“(September 11) hit. A year before that I had decided to join. It seemed like a good time,” he said. “I knew I was going to join eventually, but seeing 9/11, that gave me the kick in the butt to do it sooner than expected.”

Ashley felt compelled to follow her brother’s lead in January 2004.

“I chose the Marine Corps over any other branch because I didn’t want it to pull us apart,” she said. “After he came back from boot camp, he was different, and I didn’t know how I was going to handle that for the rest of my life. . . . For him to go into the Marine Corps and have that experience and me not have it, it kind of left me unbalanced.”

As proud as parents Joe and Julie Tindall were about the twins’ decision, it was extremely difficult watching not one, but both of their children volunteer during wartime.

“It was bittersweet because they were so young, right in the middle of college and of course (they joined) in the heat of it . . . and I was concerned about that,” Julie said. “But also I knew that they’re just the type of young people that want to serve their country. They wanted to do something, whatever they could do to help.”

For Joe Tindall, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, the thought of his little girl going to war was especially tough.

“You’re nervous because your kids are in the service,” he said. “It tends to hit home more when it’s your own family.”

Off to war

Eventually, both Tindall twins would be deployed to Iraq, even though they weren’t required to be. Ashley went first, something her brother wasn’t completely comfortable with.

“For me, when I found out her original unit was going to Iraq, I was a heartbeat away from volunteering (to go) because I wanted to make sure she was looked after,” Blake said.

Ashley was in Iraq from Feb. 23 to May 3 with the 2nd Supply Battalion as a seven-ton truck and Humvee driver. While stationed at Al Taqaddum (TQ), she aggravated an old back injury and had to leave early, but she was glad just to have made it to Iraq.

“I didn’t want to spend six years (in the military) . . . and never have gone,” Ashley said. “You’ve been prepping for this, to go, and I wanted to be a veteran.”

When Blake joined the Marines, his unit had just come back from Iraq and wouldn’t be up for rotation again until after he was due to be discharged—in February this year. Blake decided to stay on after his unit was activated for deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at the end of 2008.

He was in Iraq from April 1 to Aug. 8 with Golf Company 2/23, a reserve infantry battalion. While there, Blake was stationed about 12 miles south of Al Asad, a major Marine air base. He served as police sergeant as well as a jackof-all-trades for Shadow Range, a camp that trains marines and Iraqis alike.

Ashley said she thought about her brother all the time and that she was “scared to death” because of the dangers of his job and location.

“He walked around with his weapon 24/7 and it was cocked and loaded,” she said. “That’s not a good feeling knowing that at any time you might have to use it.”

Though the twins said being in Iraq at the same time was more worrisome than comforting, being in the same time zone did prove convenient, as they were able to talk at night via Skype or MySpace.

Sometimes they would put aside their sibling banter to offer words of encouragement or simply recite a motto passed on by their father: “Stay away from stupid people—they will get you killed—and keep your head down.”

Perhaps the best and most surreal moment for the duo was a chance encounter outside the chow hall in Iraq. Blake was on Ashley’s base, getting ready to stage a convoy to his next destination, and he walked right by his sister. The two had only about 10 minutes to catch up—enough time to take a photo—but Blake said the brief meeting lifted his spirits.

“Knowing somebody who’s out there with you, it brings home a lot closer,” he said.

Ashley was glad to see him, too, but she prayed it wouldn’t be the last time.

Fortunately, both made it home safely—a blessing not lost on them.

Once they’re out

Previously stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, Ashley transferred to Camp Pendleton in Oceanside last week. She’s finally living with her husband, Drew Dias, a 22-year-old Marine she married before being deployed. The couple is expecting a baby, due next spring. Ashley is still on active duty but expects to be medically discharged from the service in January.

Blake, who is stationed at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, gets his walking papers in October.

Both plan to finish their degrees: Ashley in communications and Blake in sociology and criminology. Ashley hopes to work for a government agency, while Blake wants a job as a civilian contractor or in federal law enforcement.

Joe said he’s quite proud that the twins carried on the family history of service to one’s country.

“It’s funny, it became kind of like a family tradition, yet it wasn’t really intended to go that direction,” he said. “It just kind of fell into place.”