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ALBANY, GA -- Sister soldiers Nechesa Jenkins and Nakeisha Ellison are spending Memorial day 2011 together. Both sisters are just returning from deployment overseas.

Nechesa, 25, is now stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado, while Nakeisha, 21, is working in Atlanta.

They believe they were destined to go into the army, since they grew up in a military household.

"My dad was in the marines, He served approximately ten or eleven years," said Army Specialist Nechesa Jenkins.

The women grew up travelling with the family around the world, living on army bases as far as Japan. Although their father is a marine, they chose their own path.

"Instead we joined the army and not the marines," said Nekeisha Ellison.

Both Ellison and Jenkins said it was the experience of growing up in a military family and the rising cost of college that determined their fate of entering the army.

Nechesa Jenkins, the oldest, enrolled in September of 2009, one year after her baby sister. Jenkins said, while going to college, student loans caused her to fall into deep debt. She said this was when the military became more appealing than she had thought.

"I figured joining the military would be my best way to pay for school and just continue travelling like we were accustomed to growing up," said Jenkins.

Jenkins deployed to Iraq in March April of 2010, just a month before Ellison deployed to Afghanistan. They both served a year overseas but while Jenkins was alone in another country, her little sister had a family member nearby.

"I was lucky enough to have my dad on the same base as me," said Army Specialist E4 Nechesa Ellison, "So that made my deployment a lot easier."

The sisters are awaiting their father's return in June of 2011.