Afghanistan Firefight Heard On Voice Mail

Zaphod

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Oops! Sorry, Mom! :redface:

Link to original article

Note: There is a link at the site above where you can listen to the actual voicemail. The clip contains foul language.

Afghanistan Firefight Heard On Voice Mail

POSTED: 6:53 am PDT May 5, 2008
UPDATED: 1:57 pm PDT May 5, 2008

OTIS, Ore. -- An Oregon couple received a frightening phone call from their son in Afghanistan when he inadvertently called home during battle.

Stephen Phillips and other soldiers in his Army MP company were battling insurgents when his phone was pressed against his Humvee. It redialed and called his parents in the small Oregon town of Otis.

Sandie Petee, Phillips' mother, and her husband, Jeff Petee, weren't home at the time of the call. They returned home to find a three-minute voice mail on their answering machine.

"His friend died a year ago in Iraq and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, this may be the last time I hear my son's voice on the phone,'" Petee said.

They heard shooting, swearing and shouted pleas for more ammunition on the phone call from their son.

"They were pinned down and apparently his barrel was overheating," said Jeff Petee. "It's something a parent really doesn't want to hear. It's a heck of a message to get from your son in Afghanistan."

The three-minute call ended abruptly.

"You could hear him saying stuff like, he needs more ammo, or he needs another barrel," said John Petee, Phillips' brother. "At the end, you could hear a guy saying 'Incoming! RPG!' And then it cut off."

As soon as the voice mail stopped playing, the Petees began trying to reach their son in Afghanistan. The family figured out Petee had tried to call home earlier that day, but he didn't leave a message and the phone later redialed during battle.

They eventually reached their son.

"I finally got a hold of him," Sandie Petee said. "He was embarrassed, he said, 'Don't let Grandma hear it.'"

Stephen Phillips is scheduled to return home next month, when his tour is complete, his mother said.

Wow. Hell of a thing to come home to. :eek:

Fortunately, it would seem the young lad and his mates made it out safely. I hope they bagged a bunch of bad guys in the process.

I have to ask, though....

A) Seems to me that carrying a cell phone into combat, turned on, is a bad idea because it can ring at a bad moment or, if captured, be used to track down loved ones at home.

B) If a cell phone call can be made from the middle of a firefight in Afghanistan, can someone please explain to me why the HELL I can't get reliable coverage in NEW YORK? :mad:
 
Wow! Glad he's OK.
That had to be a scary voicemail to get, especially ending that way.:eek:

Cell coverage in Afghanistan, but not my dorm room.:confused:
 
Some people just have to have their 15 minutes, I guess. I can't think of any other reason than, perhaps, their being elated that he was actually fine in the end.
 
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