Home for the Holidays

by Spc. Michael Howard

No matter what happened, Henry Mare Sr. never in his life broke his word to his son. So when he told his son that he was going to join him in Iraq despite being stuck in Texas with little cash, no job offers, and generally no means to take himself halfway across the globe, his son Pfc. Henry Mare Jr. knew that if anyone could pull off the seemingly impossible, it would be his father.

Mare Jr., a command driver with Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division is deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 07-09. His father, an ice plant operator for Kellog, Brown and Root, arrived in Iraq 2 days before Thanksgiving just in time to spend the holidays with his son.

Henry Mare Sr., an ice plant operator with Kellog, Brown, and Root, and his son Pfc. Henry Mare Jr., a command driver with Headquarters Company, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, pray together before sharing their Thanksgiving meal. The father and son reunited in Iraq two days before Thanksgiving.

Both Mares are natives of Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa, where both Mares enjoyed what Mare Jr. described as an idealistic childhood on a 220 acre farm with the nearest town about 15 miles away.

"When I first went to school, my grandmom had to show me how to cross a road, because I was so used to the farm that I didn't know how to cross a road," said the younger Mare.

It was in Bronkhorstspruit where both Mares cemented a bond that would last them a lifetime. Mare Jr. described their bond as one unique among father-son relationships.

"We grew up together. My dad raised me as a father, but he raised me more as a friend. He was the fatherly figure when he needed to be, but he was more a friend. If I asked him something, he wouldn't lie to me. Most parents would beat around the bush because they knew their children wouldn't understand, but my dad told me the truth. Whether I understood or not, it was always the truth. I think that's how we were friends."

Pfc. Henry Mare Jr., a command driver with Headquarters Company, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, learns about his father Henry Mare Sr.'s job managing an ice plant.

From the time his son was born, the elder Mare made him the first priority in his life. "Ever since he was a kid, when he went to school, for functions or sports, he would ask me, 'dad, will you be there?' and I would say, 'You have my word.' As far as the contracts I was working on, I would tell my company, 'I've got to do something more important. My son is important to me and I love him dearly,'" said the elder Mare.

The elder Mare said that his time with his son in South Africa were some of the best days in both men's lives. "I never had one day's problems with Henry. I always say, I'm his father but I'm his best buddy, and he's my best buddy."

The younger Mare said that the only time he and his father argued was on the job, and that that was for the benefit of their customers.

"They would hire us more for entertainment than getting the job done. I'm not kidding. We would be joking, and people would think we were going to tear into each other at any moment, but we always got the job done!" the elder Mare laughs.

The elder Mare decided to seek his fortune in America in 1995. Five years later the younger Mare, who had been living with his grandparents, joined his father in America. "I wanted to live with him, so he bought me an airplane ticket and I came over," said the younger Mare.

Henry Mare Sr., an ice plant operator with Kellog, Brown, and Root, and his son Pfc. Henry Mare Jr., a command driver with Headquarters Company, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, pose together at Mare Sr.'s ice plant.

Life in America was hard on the Mares at first. Their first residence together was a one bedroom apartment. The Mares shared the bedroom, sleeping on two inflatable mattresses. They ate on plastic plates with plastic cutlery, but they were together, and the Mares said that was all that mattered. "It doesn't matter where we are, what the situation is, as long as we're together, we're happy," said the younger Mare.

The Mares' happiness was cut short when the elder Mare had to return to South Africa to care for his mother, whose health was failing. The younger Mare joined the Army. and was deployed almost immediately after basic and advanced individual training. The elder Mare, who was in South Africa for 3 months, missed Mare's farewell ceremony by two days. It looked like the Mares, who had sacrificed for years in order to be together, were about to be split for the next 15 months. Enter KBR.

Even before KBR recruited him, the elder Mare said he knew deep inside that he was going to join his son in Iraq. About two months into his son's deployment, the elder Mare told the younger Mare and about his feeling in a phone call.

"I was on the phone with Henry and I told him that I was coming to see him in Iraq. He thought I was just kidding at the time, and he laughed. I mean, I was in Texas, and there is no particular reason I would have been heading over here, but I just had a feeling. He wouldn't believe me. He laughed, and said, 'yeah, right.' And I left it at that."

Ten minutes later, the elder Mare's phone rang. It was a call from KBR regarding a job as an ice plant operator that he had applied for in 2002. The elder Mare agreed happily, but he had a request. "I said, 'you know, it just so happens that my son Henry is in camp Speicher. Do you have anything available there?' She said, 'well, let me just check on the computer to see if we've got anything.' She came back on the line and said, 'yeah, sure. I do have an opening for you.' I said, 'well, sign me up!'" Nine days later, he was on the first leg of a 14 day trip that took him to camp Speicher.

The elder Mare admits to being completely unsurprised that a job offer that KBR took five years to respond to would come to him within 10 minutes of the time he needed it.

"It is Heaven sent," he said, "I said to him on the phone before I came over, 'Henry, we don't understand time, not the Lord's time. God works in mysterious ways, ways we don't understand. It's beyond our comprehension.' I have never in my life broken my word to my son, and now I gave it to him.

The younger Mare says that he has few memories in his life as vivid as the moment of their reunion. "It was... wow," he said, "I was sitting around back, and I had just gotten back from lunch, and all the sudden I heard this voice say in Afrikaans, 'you better get back to work, you lazy bum.' When I heard that I turned and saw him, and I just dropped everything and ran. I just ran, and hugged him. It was wonderful."

Despite working miles apart on a base where private transportation is scarce, the Mares make time to see each other every day, usually at lunch. The younger Mare says he now looks forward to his lunch hour more than any part of his day.

The elder Mare will be in Iraq for one year, and his son was three months into his 15-month tour when his father arrived. Since their return to the states will take place at almost the same time, they have already made plans for their return.

"We're going to go back, and we're going to take a two week cruise. We're just going to cruise and relax and just spend a lot of time together," said the elder Mare.

The younger Mare had more to add. "My dad said to me, 'Before we spoke about it, I was thinking we would just do a normal cruise. But you know what? We need to go all out. We need to do a really top of the line cruise.' I said, 'okay, if you say so! By all means! Let's do it!'"

Though the Mares are not technically at home during the holidays, both Mares said that home is where the heart is, and that as far as they are concerned, as long as they are together-they are home.

"This is awesome. I don't have to be at home for it to be a holiday. Being with him is a holiday no matter where we are, because we have so much fun together. We have a lot in common. We could entertain ourselves in the middle of the desert sitting on an old carpet," said the elder Mare.

The younger Mare joked that though spending Thanksgiving with his father was an incredible experience for him Christmas was going to be awkward, because the PX has a fairly limited gift selection.

The elder Mare, however, said that he has already been blessed with a holiday gift that surpasses any other gift he could receive.

"The biggest gift I ever got was from the Lord, and that's Henry. I don't really need gifts. Our time together is so valuable, money can't buy it."

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

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