ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- For service members deployed overseas, it can be tough being separated from family. For two service members in the New Mexico National Guard though, the distance will not be so great.
Specialist Krista Macias and First Sergeant Lacey Macias took part in a farewell ceremony Tuesday. They are both headed to Kuwait. They are also father and daughter.
"A few years ago, she said she wanted to go in the military," said Lacey Macias, Krista's father. "It really surprised me."
Lacey Macias
The circumstances worked out well. Krista is a medic, and it so happened that her father's unit needed a medic. When she heard about that, there was only one thing to do.
"It was one of his friends that he actually deployed with, he actually asked me to go," Krista Macias said. "They said that they needed medics to come and they just figured it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to go with my father."
Krista Macias
To make things even more special, this is going to be her first deployment. For her father, it'll be his last.
"It's a pretty awesome thing. It takes the edge off being deployed, so it's not nearly as nerve-wracking for me. And so it's just awesome to share this experience with my father.
Krista and Lacey Macias
Lacey said the deployment would be a passing of the torch: his daughter would carry on the family's legacy of honor.
Lacey and Krista Macias and 100 other soldiers in the New Mexico National Guard will be making final preparations before leaving in three weeks. The deployment will last nine months.
