thedrifter
02-04-06, 06:43 AM
Father Visits Marine Son in Iraq
Reported By: Jaye Watson
Web Editor: Michael King
Last Modified: 2/3/2006 9:38:05 PM
Before Christmas, Lieutenant Adam Mathes called his father from Iraq and asked him to come. Dr. Ben Mathes found a way to do it.
Mathes, a Presbyterian minister, is also the host of a radio show, so he went as a journalist, and was embedded with his son’s Marine unit for three weeks.
“When he came walking in, he started laughing, and I started laughing and we just hugged each other and I said be careful what you ask for,” Dr. Mathes said.
The roles were reversed as he watched his son lead his company of more than 200 Marines.
“I had to call him Lieutenant Mathes, and he had to call me Dr. Mathes. The Battalion leader asked us to keep protocol so we wouldn’t confuse the other Marines.
Dr. Mathes lived Marine life for three weeks -- a life of no showers, of pre-packaged meals, and of war.
“We were spending 20 hours a day doing things. You don't ever really go to bed -- you lie down to take a nap, you get up and do whatever is happening next,” Dr. Mathes said.
Dr. Mathes went with his son's unit on patrol He was with them when they kicked in the doors of suspected insurgent hideouts. He was with them when they were the target.
“We got rocketed one night. All the whoops of the bombs landing around us, rocked all of us,” he said.
Dr. Mathes says he was never scared.
“Their courage is very contagious. I don't know that I found myself afraid at all. You don't have time to be,” Mathes said.
Accompanied by his best friend, Presbyterian minister Dr. Chris Price, Dr. Mathes says he got inventive in the name of God.
“We got to the do the Lord's Supper, do the Sacraments, a tangible sign of God's invisible love,” Dr. Mathes said.
He says he did not want to leave his son, and even looking back it seems incredible to him that it happened at all.
“My son and I, on patrol together. That stays in my mind. I have been on combat patrol with my son in Iraq. That makes me laugh. I’m 50-some years old, been on patrol with my kid in Iraq,” said Dr. Mathes.
He says he knows the danger his son faces, so instead of goodbye, they have a different closing to their conversations.
“I'll see you on this side of the River or the other, that's how we ended our time together,” he said.
“The River” plays a big part in Dr. Mathes' life in more ways than one. He heads a Christian organization called Rivers of the World, and travels to the most dangerous parts of many continents to give aid.
Still, he says he had a hard time leaving his son in Iraq, and he wishes he could go back.
Reported By: Jaye Watson
Web Editor: Michael King
Last Modified: 2/3/2006 9:38:05 PM
Before Christmas, Lieutenant Adam Mathes called his father from Iraq and asked him to come. Dr. Ben Mathes found a way to do it.
Mathes, a Presbyterian minister, is also the host of a radio show, so he went as a journalist, and was embedded with his son’s Marine unit for three weeks.
“When he came walking in, he started laughing, and I started laughing and we just hugged each other and I said be careful what you ask for,” Dr. Mathes said.
The roles were reversed as he watched his son lead his company of more than 200 Marines.
“I had to call him Lieutenant Mathes, and he had to call me Dr. Mathes. The Battalion leader asked us to keep protocol so we wouldn’t confuse the other Marines.
Dr. Mathes lived Marine life for three weeks -- a life of no showers, of pre-packaged meals, and of war.
“We were spending 20 hours a day doing things. You don't ever really go to bed -- you lie down to take a nap, you get up and do whatever is happening next,” Dr. Mathes said.
Dr. Mathes went with his son's unit on patrol He was with them when they kicked in the doors of suspected insurgent hideouts. He was with them when they were the target.
“We got rocketed one night. All the whoops of the bombs landing around us, rocked all of us,” he said.
Dr. Mathes says he was never scared.
“Their courage is very contagious. I don't know that I found myself afraid at all. You don't have time to be,” Mathes said.
Accompanied by his best friend, Presbyterian minister Dr. Chris Price, Dr. Mathes says he got inventive in the name of God.
“We got to the do the Lord's Supper, do the Sacraments, a tangible sign of God's invisible love,” Dr. Mathes said.
He says he did not want to leave his son, and even looking back it seems incredible to him that it happened at all.
“My son and I, on patrol together. That stays in my mind. I have been on combat patrol with my son in Iraq. That makes me laugh. I’m 50-some years old, been on patrol with my kid in Iraq,” said Dr. Mathes.
He says he knows the danger his son faces, so instead of goodbye, they have a different closing to their conversations.
“I'll see you on this side of the River or the other, that's how we ended our time together,” he said.
“The River” plays a big part in Dr. Mathes' life in more ways than one. He heads a Christian organization called Rivers of the World, and travels to the most dangerous parts of many continents to give aid.
Still, he says he had a hard time leaving his son in Iraq, and he wishes he could go back.