Sons of both VP candidates headed to Iraq

Citing security restrictions, the Army will not say where in Iraq Palin's or Biden's units are being sent. Both units are scheduled to be in Iraq for 12 months.

Track Palin and Beau Biden have received no special considerations, the Army said. Nor will they.

"Absolutely not," said Capt. John Atwell, Palin's company commander.

Lt. Col. Len Gratteri, a spokesman for the Delaware Guard, said the only time special status for Beau Biden is discussed at the Guard's headquarters in Wilmington is when the media calls to ask about him.

"He's a soldier," Gratteri said.

Palin's job appears to be riskier than Biden's.

Now 19, he enlisted last year and is assigned to the 1st Stryker Brigade's Delta company. That's in Palin's home state. The Army says his being posted there was luck of the draw.

In military parlance, Palin is a "dismount." He and other soldiers operate armored vehicles called Strykers. Their job is to ensure brigade commanders and their communications remain protected as they move around the country. The Stryker is an eight-wheeled truck that weighs 19 tons.

"They're the secret service for the brigade commander," said brigade spokesman Maj. Chris Hyde.

Gov. Palin said in her acceptance speech this week that her son's unit will deploy to Iraq on Thursday. A deployment ceremony for the brigade takes place at Fort Wainwright then, but the route to Iraq is not a direct one. It will move in stages with stops in Kuwait for equipment. The brigade will eventually be stationed in northern Iraq, Hyde said.

Biden a military lawyer
Beau Biden joined the Delaware Guard in 2003 and is now a captain. He's assigned to the 261st Signal Brigade as a military lawyer. He prosecutes offenses that can range from soldiers who are late for formation to courts-martial, said Gratteri, a spokesman for the Delaware Guard.

One hundred members of the 261st Signal Brigade are scheduled to leave Delaware in early October for Fort Bliss, Texas, where they will spend several weeks training before going to Iraq, Gratteri said.

Like any other soldier, Biden will carry a weapon. But his duties will be largely administrative, Gratteri said.

"The plan is not for him to be kicking down a door," he said.

The Secret Service provides protection to the children of the president and vice president.

The agency, however, has no record of providing protection to any past presidents' or vice presidents' children who were serving in an active war zone. The military and the administration would likely discuss if and how the Secret Service would provide protection for Biden or Palin, agency spokesman Eric Zahren said.

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