Matt Hanson Featured in the Phoenix
From the Midwest to the Middle East
An Interview with Judge Matthew G. Hanson ‘91
By Michael Nossett ‘11
Staff Writer
The honors won by each loyal son, In highest rank shall instate her. Forever more as in days of yore Their deeds be noble and grand. ~ “Old Wabash”
As we reverently remember in the strains of our dear fight song, this tiny and secluded liberal arts college has produced quite a number of honorable men that have gone on to greatly impact the world. Even a quick glance through the yearbooks of this school will yield an impressive number of such noble men who both have and will continue to demonstrate the great ideals that Wabash holds so dearly: the values of thinking critically, acting responsibly, leading effectively, and living humanely.
Of the many men who have carried the scarlet W both in their hearts and on their diplomas, there is one recent graduate in particular that deserves select mentioning for his “noble and grand” deeds. That man would be the Honorable Matthew G. Hanson of the Class of 1991 who, though presiding over the Morgan Circuit Court in Martinsville, Indiana, recently returned from nearly eighteen months leave of absence serving as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in Baghdad, Iraq.
A quick visit to his office reveals quite plainly that Judge Hanson is a Wally through and through. Pictures of Monon Bell games and other Wabash mementos decorate his office in the Morgan County Courthouse. And yet, perhaps what is most telling about Hanson—who, when not serving in his official capacity, tells everyone to just call him “Matt”—are the things that do not bear the bright red W, things like Hanson’s humble and caring spirit, and his tales from service abroad.
A native of the Buckeye State, Hanson came to Wabash as a member of the Class of ‘91, and quickly became involved on campus, joining the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, majoring in History with a minor in both English and Religion, and eventually joining the Sphinx Club. Upon graduating, Hanson says that a career in law “seemed like the next step”, and thus, he went on to attend the University of Toledo Law School, graduating in 1994. From there, Hanson returned to Indiana to open up his own private practice in Indianapolis, while also working as a lobbyist at the Statehouse. These were good experiences, he reminisces, yet were not quite what the self-described “politician by trade” had in mind. Consequently, Hanson decided to apply for a job in government himself: that of Deputy Prosecutor in Martinsville. After serving in that capacity for a few years, the local Circuit Court Judge position became available and, “on a dare” from another candidate for the position, Hanson decided to run for the office as well, and went on to win.
Since his election and official appointment in 2001, Judge Hanson has presided over cases of all types. Per Indiana law, the Circuit Court is responsible over trials ranging from small claims to adoption to murder. No matter the case at hand, however, Hanson shows a great deal of responsibility, making his decisions as efficiently as possible (generally, within two weeks of the trial), and reporting all of his outside contact regarding each case. When he is approached by someone wishing to discuss a certain case, Hanson dutifully declines and reports that contact in the court’s record—something that he does not have to do—so as to avoid any sort of corruption or bending of the law for special instances.
Outside of his official capacity, Hanson does not try to demand people’s respect; instead, he tries to earn it by his humility. To him it is the office, and not the man, that demands respect. The person holding an office should be held in high regard as one vested with authority, but that authority should never give an officeholder license to lord it over others. “The man makes the position what it is,” Hanson says, “But,” noting that at the end of the day the position lives on, he adds, “You have to leave it as how you got it.” And that’s exactly what Hanson is doing, both as a Judge and also as the self-appointed (though unofficial) historian of the Morgan Circuit Court. In his spare time, Hanson has researched and produced biographical displays of each judge that has held the office that he now occupies, which are now exhibited prominently in his courtroom—proving that you can put a degree in History to good use!
Though Hanson is quite content serving his country in such a position, he also serves in another capacity: Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the Indiana National Guard. Members of the JAG Corps serve as the legal arm of the US armed forces, litigating cases and advising the military in matters of the law, and, just like their other G.I. counterparts, are deployed around the globe wherever they are needed. So why would Hanson leave a nice, safe job in Martinsville for the battlefield? As he explains it, his decision was ultimately based on the 9/11 attacks, which occurred just two days before the birth of his first child. Hanson never forgot the anger he felt from those unjust attacks, and after seeing local soldiers going to and from Afghanistan and Iraq, most of whom were still “kids” in his eyes, he decided, “I can do something. I can help.” Thus, Hanson joined the JAG Corps in 2004, and after months of training and preparation, deployed along with his comrades in the 193rd Brigade Liaison Detachment to Baghdad, Iraq, in the summer of 2007.
As captain in his unit of twelve fellow soldiers (JAG members, MP’s, and others), Hanson had expected to run some of the prisons and Theater Internment Facilities (TIF’s) in Iraq, but upon arriving in Baghdad found that he was to be used in other manners. Based out of Camp Victory, the differing specialists in his unit were put to work doing a number of things, while he was put to work as “a wheel in the cog of release,” as he describes it, helping determine which Iraqi prisoners should be freed and which should be retained. Primarily, Hanson says, his work was restricted to the Iraqi people and to the Mojahedin-e-Kalq peoples (MEK’s), who are basically refugees from Iran residing in Iraq. In his spare time, which he says he had a lot of, Hanson either tackled other issues for the Army, or sat down to write his book, Ghosts of Baghdad, a novel based on the aftermath of the 1991 Iraq war.
Though most of his duties had to do with military proceedings, Hanson had several eye-opening experiences in dealing with the Iraqi people. “It is a totally different culture over there,” Hanson explains, one in which fear was a normality, and hardships were abundant, thanks to Saddam’s regime. Evidence of such hardship could be found in just looking at the scenery. As Hanson described it, Baghdad is a beautiful city, with trees, palaces and picturesque lakes all over (thanks to Saddam’s lavish habits); yet, outside the city, living conditions and even the scenery are quite dismal. Moreover, Hanson noticed that in the Iraqi culture, thievery is seen not as a bad thing, but instead as a means necessary to survival. “If you gave some Iraqis five minutes in my office,” Hanson relates, “they would not only take everything off of the walls, but they would also take the trim pieces from around the doors and everything else they could get their hands on.” While we in the United States would consider such actions as petty thievery, Hanson says that the Iraqis view things much differently. “They don’t consider it a bad thing,” he states. “They are just used to doing whatever they have to do in order to get by.”
Though such a difference was at least somewhat understandable, Hanson said that there were others that were just “completely bizarre.” At one point, he witnessed a heated argument between some Iraqis at the gate to the US base, but when a certain Iraqi woman walked past them, they all fell silent as the grave, waiting until she was out of sight before resuming their dispute. Through a translator he and his colleagues learned that the woman had been carrying a handgun, which under Saddam’s regime, was a sign that she had special permission to shoot anyone she wanted without fear of reprisal! Needless to say, Captain Hanson found the people quite fascinating.
After having been deployed for roughly five months, Hanson’s tour of duty came to a sudden end when a disc that had been bothering him in his back finally ruptured, sending him to Germany and ultimately back to the US for treatment. Hardly able to walk, Hanson departed for Germany on December 22, 2007, a day which had seen what Hanson recalls as one of the worst suicide bomb attacks on US troops during his time there. The blast alone had killed around twenty soldiers, injuring many more who, along with Hanson, were being evacuated for treatment. He vividly recollects the scene as one that made him weep over the flight’s duration: to his side, a man who had just returned after seeing his second daughter born, spared from death only by his friend standing between him and the blast; in front of him, another man with “machines stacked four feet high around him on all sides.” Back in the States, and after experiencing some difficulties in his recovery process (mostly red tape), Hanson has now made nearly a full recovery, and has turned what was not the most pleasant of processes into a tool to help other injured soldiers get the appropriate treatment they need, using his misfortune as a way to help others. In October of this past year, Hanson again resumed his regular duties as Circuit Court Judge back home in Martinsville, and has staid hard at work ever since.
With his journey since Wabash carrying him far from the Midwest, even to the Middle East and back, Matt Hanson has displayed to people all over the world all the qualities of a true Wabash man. Whether doing his utmost to be a responsible and effective judge, serving his country miles from home, or simply helping explain the “system” to wounded troops, he has proven to be a man well worth honoring and emulating. May we all learn from his example!
“…Their deeds be noble and grand.”
Note: Students at Wabash currently publish two conservative journals: The Phoenix, put out by the Wabash Conservative Union, and a completely separate publication called The Wabash Commentary.
