What are the odds?

With 140,000 U.S. troops spread over the 170,000 square miles of Iraq, what were the chances that twin brothers Mason and Stefen Bowen of Sissonville would run into each other?

Mason, a machine-gunner with the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marine Division, and Stefen, a scout with the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, both in their second tours of duty in Iraq, hadn't seen each other for more than a year.

But on Friday, in a stretch of desert in Diyala Province north of Baghdad, two motorized patrols spotted each other in the distance, and made radio contact.

"Both units were moving in the desert, and one unit radioed the other to give its position for safety reasons, so the good guys could know where the other good guys were operating," said Toby Painter, the twins' stepfather. While the radio operators traded information, "the boys recognized each other's unit, and asked their unit leaders if they could stop and see each other," Painter said.

The Marine and Army patrols linked up, and the 21-year-old fraternal twins got to spend about an hour together.

"They were thrilled to meet up," said Painter, who received a text message about the meeting from one of the boys, and was later e-mailed photos of the rendezvous. "But they said it wasn't really enough time to catch up on everything."

Mason and Stefen Bowen grew up in Cross Lanes and Sissonville and graduated from Sissonville High School, where they and their other siblings participated in the ROTC program.

When Toby and Tammy Jo Painter married in 1993, they each had three children from previous marriages, and later had a seventh child of their own. Five of the seven children are in the military. The two who are not, Michael, 17, and Jaren, 14, have said they, too, plan to enlist when they are old enough.

Mason, a corporal in the Marines, is married and due to rotate home next month. Stefen, a specialist in the Army, the equivalent rank to his brother, began his second tour late last year, and isn't due to return home until November. He, too, is married and he and his wife are expecting a child in July.

Their older brother, Charlie Painter, was deployed twice to Iraq during his tour with the Marines, which ended about six months ago. He is now in the West Virginia Army National Guard.

Their sister Jordan Bowen, 22, served in the Army Reserves as a medical technician in Germany and Hawaii, and is now in the West Virginia Army National Guard, attending Marshall University. "She'll be a second lieutenant when she graduates," said Painter.

Reach Rick Steelhammer

at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-5169.