Update: Matt Hanson
Hanson back on bench
Keith Rhoades
krhoades@reportert.com
October 27, 2008
MARTINSVILLE–After an absence of more than a year, Morgan County Circuit Court Judge Matt Hanson is back on the bench. Hanson served as a captain in the National Guard and spent five months in Iraq.
Hanson said his time in Iraq “was definitely interesting and a learning experience” and that it was nothing like it is portrayed on television.
Hanson’s unit dealt with Iraqi citizens who were charged with crimes.
“We basically moved them around and made sure they were where they were supposed to be,” he said. He did not deal with American citizens or soldiers.
Hanson said there have been some changes at home since he left.
“There are a lot of new faces in the prosecutor’s office,” he said.
He said Morgan Count Prosecutor, Steve Sonnega, is still serving, but will be home soon. Hanson said Sonnega and Morgan County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bob Cline will probably pass each other as Sonnega comes home and Cline is deployed.
While Hanson was gone, Brian H. Williams was the judge pro tem in his place. When he returned, Hanson regained his spot on the bench.
“The very first day I was here I had some initial hearings and all the words were still there in my head,” he said.
Hanson was in the service for about a year and a half, and he was in Iraq for about five months. He sustained a back injury and was sent home for medical treatment.
He called the place where he was interesting with lots of history. He took about 3,000 pictures of some of the sites.
One place stuck out. Hanson said they called it the “Flinstone Village.” He said it was the place where Saddam Hussein built a playground for his grandchildren.
“It was a massive place with elevators, staircases, electronic toys, and other items for his grandchildren,” Hanson said. “It was clearly a place for kids” he said.
Hanson said Hussein was building a “Victory over America” palace for one of his sons. Hussein called the incident in 1991 a victory for Iraq and was in the process of building a palace to celebrate it.
Hanson said there was still a lot of work that needed be done when American troops took the place.
For the most part, Hanson said his contact with the civilians was limited. The few people he did meet were nice. Hanson said he shared some meals with a few civilians, but his job did not require him to go outside the camp into areas of Iraq. It was still a war zone and people had to be careful.
While in Iraq, Hanson had a lot of spare time. The shifts were normally 12 hours on duty and 12 hours off duty. During that time, he began writing a book about the places he saw and the experiences he had. He said some of the book is fiction, but some is based on real events.
“I’ve re-written it several times,” he said. As for having it published, Hanson sometimes he thinks he will look for a publisher, while at times, “I want to put it in the closet and bring it out in 30 years and read it.” He said it was “something fun” to do while he was there.
He is working on another book about politics.
Hanson said he was able to follow what happened in Morgan County by reading www.reporter-times.com.
Now he looks forward to getting back into a normal routine, which is easier said than done for soldiers returning from Iraq, he said.
Local coming back and will need time and help, Hanson said. They will need help to find jobs and get back with their families. And Hanson said they will need time, time to get to back into civilian life.
As for returning to the states, Hanson said people have been wonderful. He said, unlike after the Vietnam Conflict, people have been happy to see the troops come home.
One of the first things Hanson did when he got back into his office was put his Washington Redskins items back on the shelf behind his desk.
Hanson commended Williams for his work.
“Williams gave up his private practice to work on the bench,” he said. “That took a leap of faith.”
