Brothers in arms: Siblings serving in same Guard unit

ROCK FALLS – Like all families, Jim and Kalah Hollowell have their sons’ senior portraits hanging on a living room wall.

On another wall, underneath a “Rocket Wrestling” sign, is another set of photos – pictures of uniformed young men with shaved heads, in front of an American flag.

Three of the Hollowell’s four sons – Ben, 23, Brad, 21, and Brock, 20 – are members of the National Guard’s 1644th Transportation Unit.

Brock, joined in October 2007; he is a specialist.

“I wanted to do something different,” said Brock, who hopes to serve in the Guard for 20 years, so he can “get out and about and travel.”

Brock convinced Ben, a private, to join in February 2008. Brad, a private first class,  joined in January and has just completed basic training.

The oldest brother, Bill, 27, wanted to join the Air Force, but couldn’t because of a heart condition; he works at UPM Raflatac in Dixon.

The former Rock Falls High School and Amateur Athletic Union wrestlers signed up in part because of the benefits, including help paying for their schooling at Sauk Valley Community College.

“You can’t get a better job than that,” Brad said. “There’s too many benefits not to do it.”

The Hollowells are continuing a family tradition: Both grandfathers and their great-grandfather served.

Jim Hollowell, 59, manages the Shell Gas station at the intersection of 12th Avenue and W. U.S. Route 30 in Rock Falls.

“It gets them a lot of respect,” Jim Hollowell said. “They’ve told me ... when they’re in a restaurant, and their in their uniforms, people come up and buy their food.”

“In the end, I’m just really proud of them.”

They left for basic training as boys, but came back men, their dad said.

“I knew they would have no problem physically. They’re all excellent athletes. They know how to go past the wall, when you have the exhaustion,” said Jim, who coached his boys while they wrestled in AAU.

The brothers have a close bond, and missed each other when they went through basic separately.

“I thought the hardest was being away from my brothers,” Brock said. “If one of us is upset, we’ll talk to each other and cheer each other up. You don’t have that when you’re gone or away.”

The three want to solidify their bond with matching tattoos, that say “Brothers in Arms” or “an Army of 3.”

The 1644th is scheduled to be deployed overseas in 2011. Whether they will be on different missions has yet to be determined.

They’re sure to be on separate trucks, and only allowed near each other when they’re in “safe” areas, to limit the risk of the family losing all three sons.

That’s a harrowing thought, but “it’s a higher power involved. It’s in God’s hands,” Jim Hollowell said. “What happens, happens. You could get killed over here with the violence in this country.

“They want to do it. If something happens, what a more honorable way to go – but I sure don’t want that to happen.”

Brock, the youngest, is itching to go overseas, and hopes to go before 2011. He is asking other Guard units if he can join them when on their deployment.

“I want to get that combat patch. You get more respect and the experience,” he said.

“You only live once. You might as well go all out.”