Silver Lake ? Kendall Phelps had trouble sleeping during his oldest son’s first four-month tour in Iraq, when he accompanied a Marine Corps division into combat at the war’s start.

His son, who had left active duty in the Corps for a civilian career, returned after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. But so had Kendall Phelps, a Vietnam veteran and retired Marine master gunnery sergeant.

Now, both 57-year-old Kendall Phelps and his 34-year-old son, Maj. Christopher Phelps, have orders to report to Camp Lejeune, N.C., for training, then deploy to Iraq in late February or early March for a seven-month tour. They’ll serve in the same unit, ordered to help Iraqi officials trying to rebuild their nation.

They will leave families behind; Kendall Phelps in Silver Lake, a small town northwest of Topeka, and Christopher Phelps, a former Kansas University student, in Shawnee. Asked about each other’s safety, both said they trust their fellow Marines.

“In the Marine Corps, every Marine watches every Marine, whether it’s your father, a son, whether it’s a brother, whether it’s just a friend,” Kendall Phelps said.

His decision after Sept. 11, 2001, to put his name on a list of retirees who wanted to return to active duty didn’t surprise Principal Larry Winter of Silver Lake High School, where Kendall Phelps works as a teacher.

“He lives and breathes it,” Winter said of Phelps’ feelings for the Corps.

The Marines don’t keep records on how many fathers and sons serve in the same unit, but it’s rare, said Capt. Jeff Landis, a spokesman for the Corps in Quantico, Va.

Kendall Phelps learned in November he would be deployed to Iraq with the 200-member 5th Civil Affairs Group, and went on active duty just before Christmas, about the time Christopher Phelps learned of his deployment.

Helping rebuild Iraq

Unit members will help Iraqi officials restart school systems, re-establish local governments, train police and repair infrastructure, said the unit’s commanding officer, Col. Steve McKinley. That job can’t be done until an area is reasonably secure, he said.

Kendall Phelps, left, and his son Christopher Phelps, a former Kansas University student, will deploy together to Iraq in February or March and will serve together in the same unit.

“I’ve got the Phelps family counting on me to bring everybody back alive,” McKinley said.

Christopher Phelps has four sons, ages 18 months to 6 years. The youngest, Taigan, was born shortly after his father’s return from his first tour in Iraq.

Kendall Phelps has two daughters and three sons, including Christopher, ages 19 to 34.

Kendall Phelps joined the Marines straight out of high school in Rock Island, Ill., with six of his buddies. He served 13 months in Vietnam, in 1966 and 1967, helping move supplies and ammunition and transport wounded soldiers. He left active duty in 1968 but later joined the reserves, hitting 30 years’ total service in 1999, when retirement was required.

Like father, like son

Christopher Phelps also joined the Marines out of high school, serving in his father’s reserve unit while attending KU. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1994, he spent five years on active duty. He went back into the reserves until the terrorist attacks led him to again seek active duty.

That led to his 2003 tour in Iraq with a unit providing support for the 1st Marine Division as it moved from Kuwait, northwest into Iraq and Baghdad. His parents said those four months were difficult because they often didn’t know where he was.

But he sent a picture from Baghdad, showing him standing in front of a bombed-out building, holding a handmade sign that said, “Dad, wish you were here.”

Christopher Phelps said he meant it as a greeting, similar to what tourists put on their post cards, but, “Now, it’s kind of ironic.”