A local doctor?s two children are serving in the United States Marine Corps as part of the few, the proud and the brave soldiers fighting in the war-zones of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Cpl. David Perinchief, 22, of Smith?s is fighting in northern Afghanistan while his older sister Lt. Lauren Baskins (nee Perinchief) , 27, will be sent to Iraq in the next few months.

A Warwick Academy graduate, Lt. Baskins completed her course in Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Quantico, Virginia on December 13, 2002.

Yesterday, she was at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, working as a Logistics Officer, waiting to be deployed in Iraq.

Less than a year ago, on February 7, 2004, she was married to a fellow officer who graduated from Quanitico at the same time as her ? Lt. Robert Isaac Baskins.

Both officers are scheduled to be deployed overseas at the same time, although Lauren?s husband will not be deployed to Iraq as ?the Corps does not deploy married people together,? David and Lauren?s mother, Ann, said yesterday.

Mrs. Perinchief said she was both proud and scared for her Marine children.

?People ask if we are worried,? she said. ?I say what every other Marine Mom says - they put on the uniform and go where they send them. Of course I am proud of them. Their physical ability and endurance, their sense of duty to the world but yeah, its a little scary.?

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She said she was proud of her daughter?s ?gigantic accomplishments, ability and contributions to the world. It?s not easy to be a Marine.?

Lt. Baskins will serve as an Operations Officer in Force Support in Iraq.

Local physician Dr. Peter Perinchief is their father.

Mrs. Perinchief said her daughter enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Boston University gaining a degree in hospitality in June 1999.

She said her daughter went to Warwick Academy and her son went to Saltus.

Mrs. Perinchief said yesterday that her son David completed Boot Camp at Parriss Island, South Carolina on August 31, 2001.

?David is infantry ? that is to say, he?s a grunt,? she said.

David and Lauren have an older sister, Rebecca who lives in Switzerland.

But with so many Marines in the family, she said she was thinking about changing the name of her house in Smith?s to ?Semper Fi?.

Cpl. Perinchief is fighting in Afghanistan with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, India Company?. On a USMC web-site, Cpl. Pernchief?s Commanding Officer, Capt. James Sweeney described what life was like for him and the rest of his company in country for the last six months.

?Afghanistan has proved to be an interesting place for the company. Many of your Marines have already had the opportunity to conduct patrols through the local villages and interact with the populace. Getting out of the camp and talking with the villagers has proved to be the best method to learn and understand the culture and the people.?

Capt. Sweeney continued to say in his letter to his Marine?s parents they were ?hard at work to improve living spaces? and were now living in tin roofed buildings.

?It?s not to bad actually,? he said. ?You know how Marines make the best of a situation?.