Bermel and Nighel are with the 82nd Airborne Division in Kuwait.

Bermel, 32, and Nighel, 29, are among several sets of brothers who may be going to war with the 82nd Airborne Division in the coming weeks.

But unlike the other sibling soldiers, the Agrippas are waiting to become U.S. citizens. They are from Guyana, a former British colony in South America.

"A lot of people have heard of it, most have not," Nighel said in an English accent with an island flair.

Their journey to Kuwait started with a dream for a better life and more opportunity in America. After almost a decade of waiting, the Agrippas arrived in the United States a few weeks before the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

A few weeks later, while on a Sunday drive in Miami, Bermel saw a soldier in uniform.

"I wonder if the Army has vacancies?" he asked himself. Later that week, he committed to a three-year Army enlistment.

Bermel told his Army recruiter: "I have a brother."

Nighel signed up, too.

Since then, the brothers, who finish each other's sentences, have done everything together.

They were in the same company at Basic Training at Fort Knox, Ky.

It was there that they saw snow for the first time.

After graduation, they were roommates at the Army's mechanic's school. At airborne school, they jumped from the same airplanes.

"Six, six, six was his number and my number was six, six,seven," Bermel said of their designations at airborne school.

In August, they followed each other to Fort Bragg, where both serve as generator mechanics in the 82nd Airborne Division.

Bermel is in the 407th Forward Support Battalion. Nighel is in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division.

"I wouldn't say it was planned," said Bermel, who at 6 foot 2 inches, towers over his 5 foot 7 brother. "But I thought it was a good idea for us to stick together."

That now includes war.

"I'd prefer he was not here because I worry about him," Nighel said Saturday.

His big brother sees it differently.

"It's good to know my brother is just a few tents away, around the corner," Bermel said, adding that "there's strength in numbers."

At Champion Main, the tent city that houses 4,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, the Agrippas see each other in the mess hall tent or in passing.

"Back home we were close," Bermel said. "But since then, we've become a lot closer."

Other than their accents and having the same nametag on their uniforms, few people would know the men are related.

In addition to their difference in height, Nighel's eyes are the colour of caramel, just like his father's. Bermel has his mother's eyes, coal-black. Their personalities are as different as their eye colour.

Bermel doesn't smoke. Nighel enjoys an occasional cigar. Bermel likes quiet nights reading a novel, working on the computer and having a beer.

Nighel prefers to have his beer at a bar with friends.

"I'm not boring," Nighel said. "To me, he is."

"I can be a fun person if I want to," Bermel interjected.

Differences aside, the brothers say they know they have each other. They were still adjusting to life in the United States, as well as to being privates in the Army, when they received orders to Kuwait.

"This is a strange place," Nighel said of the desert. "I don't know much about this place, with Saddam Hussein and his chemical weapons. We just want to finish quickly."

Like many here, the threat of a chemical attack is in the back of the Agrippas' minds

"Every time I hear 'exercise' I'm happy," Nighel said of the gas mask drills. "Because there's going to come the day it's..."

"... Not a drill," Bermel said, finishing his brother's sentence.

Cutting red tape
Two years ago, the brothers had almost given up on ever coming to the United States. Their mother, who was separated from their father, moved to the United States in the mid-1980s.

But the red tape to have her sons join her took years.

"I had given up," Nighel said. "I was spending my future back home."

"At first, you try and put your life on hold," Bermel explained. "After time, you start to go on with your life."

Bermel designed Web sites and fixed and sold computers. Nighel worked in the gold mines and later became a customs officer.

Both fell in love and planned to marry.

"And then the (visa) papers started coming through," Nighel said.

What to do?

"A lot of people would give both arms and legs for the chance ..." Bermel said.

"... To come here," finished Nighel.

So they came to the United States. And now they are in Kuwait.

"I'm not under any illusions on what happens when an army goes to war," Bermel said. "People die on both sides..."