JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — For 1st Sgt. Chad Emery of Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 149th Infantry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, a native of Pineville, Ky., military service seems to run in his blood. Over the span of his 22-year career, he has served for the same units his father and great-grandfather served in before him.

Currently on his fourth deployment in the Middle East, Emery serves in Barbourville, Ky.’s 1/149th Inf. Regt., which traces its roots all the way back to Alpha Company, 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Rifles Union, also out of Barbourville. During the Civil War, Emery’s great-grandfather, Pvt. John Emery, fought in this unit as part of Union forces from 1861-1863.

“I’m just proud to serve in the same unit as my great-grandfather,” Emery said. “Being a part of the 1/149th takes a much deeper meaning for me being able to serve in the same unit my family did, being able to do my part for freedom.”

During his 2006-2007 deployment with the 1/149th Inf. Regt., Emery served as an infantry platoon sergeant under the 4th Infantry Division 40 years after his father Everett Emery, a native of Pineville, Ky., served as an infantry squad leader in Vietnam from 1966-1967 under the command of the 4th Infantry Division.

“It kind of made him proud, because I brought one of my combat patches home and gave it to him. [I’m] proud that I was part of an organization he was in,” Emery said.

Having served two tours in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm and, in the years after, as part of Operation Determined Resolve, he has now served in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

As far as serving is concerned, Emery is both bemused and in awe of the irony that has brought him to serve underneath the same units as his ancestors before him.

“It’s ironic that I’ve followed my father and great grandfather into combat in the same units they served under … and it’s just something I’m proud of,” Emery said.