Oops, U.S. Soldier Phones Home, Mid-Firefight!
Stephen Phillps’ Soundtrack to War
By Art Harris, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
Here’s what happened when the U.S. soldier, Stephen Phillips, phoned home like a good son, oops, in the middle of a Taliban firefight half a world away.
Thank automatic redial for the glitch that sent Mom, Sandi Petee, into a panic back home in Otis, Oregon when she played back the message and heard the soundtrack to war in Afghanistan: a three minute stacatto of machine gun fire, laced with panicked MPs yelling for more ammo…then a shout: “Incoming, RPG!” And the phone cuts off.
Lesson Number One: Never a good thing to phone home on patrol in a war zone.
“What’s that noise?” my wife, Carol, asked one night when my Marine unit came under heavy fire in Nasirya during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where I was an embedded journalist for CNN with the 2nd Marines light armored reconn unit out of Camp LeJeune, N.C.
“Truck backfired,” I fudged, rumbling out of town in a 7-ton ammo truck, while yakking on the satellite phone carried by embedded reporters to file stories and stay in touch. Then all hell broke loose.
“I love you, gotta go,” I said.
When the smoke cleared, it turned out that an Iraqi ambush turned into an embarrassing, but miraculous, episode of friendly fire. Lots of dazed and wounded Marines, but none killed. “We had a little action last night,” I told Carol, calling back, “but our guys are okay and I’m fine.”
Sandi Pettee got a happy ending, too, according to KPTV, when she was able to call her son back and learned his Taliban engagement was all sound and fury, and fear, with no casualties.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, this may be the last time I hear my son’s voice on the phone,’ ” Sandi told the station, remembering Stephen’s close friend died in Iraq last year.
We’re sending thoughts and prayers that her son, and all our brave young men and women stay safe.
Oh, we forgot to add that, according to his brother, Stephen had only one afterthought:
“Don’t let Grandma hear (it).”
May 6th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
From your mouth to God’s ears.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Art, hope you are doing well.
All of my prayers do go to the men and women who are fighting this war. Over 4,000 soldiers lost, it makes me so very sad; as I do not know how we are going to get out of there.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
What a reality to have to live with until their son came home. Most families, just wonder what its like, but to hear the REAL thing would be too much for me
May 7th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Well I’ve lived through 3 race riots, and I think ‘War’ is ‘that’ on a grand scale.
Dear Art,
To think you risked your life just for a ’story’ wouldn’t be THE BALD TRUTH!
Bet your wife did a whole lotta Praying, and sometimes that’s all we can do.