I can only imagine the surprise of these military parents.

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.

And what did they get?

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."

Fortunately, Phillips and his fellow soldiers appear to have come out of the engagement without serious harm – and he will be home in about a month, following the end of his tour in Afghanistan.

Personally, I used this story to remind my students of an important point – that redial function can put you in an embarrassing predicament if you aren’t careful.

Posted by: Greg at 09:07 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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