Afghanistan Firefight Recorded On Soldier's Parents' Answering Machine (AUDIO)

U.S. soldier Stephen Phillips, serving in Afghanistan, gave his parents a serious scare when he accidentally called his home from his cellphone during an intense firefight with insurgents. Phillips' cellphone got pressed against his Humvee, causing it to redial the previous number. Sandie Petee, Phillips' mother, and her husband Jeff, were not home, but their answering machine recorded three minutes of the battle (from Fox 12 Oregon):

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..."

...They eventually reached their son.

Listen to the recorded firefight below:

Comments

[Orlando]

Why would anyone want their precious child to grow up to be a machine gunner for the Bush/Cheney war machine?
I would feel like a failure if my child made an immoral choice such as that.

[MissingAmerica]

Next best thing to being there. Thank God his parents were able to reach him; what a frightening event for them and their son. Modern guns should not overheat. This is yet another sign of what Bush is putting our troops through. One could suspect that he has failed to plan for their return to the U.S. because he knows the weapons will not protect them in battle.

Our troops deserve better. We will continue to pray for Phillips safe return to his family.

[dreamgypsy]

Where are the guns manufactured? why is the barrel overheating? why are the not supplied with enough ammo? with the amount of money BushCo has received the equipment is still shawdy?
Disgraceful and dishonorable Shrub!
peace

[GhostintheMachine]

Don't pretend to talk about something you know nothing about, when he said he needed more ammo that means his clip is empty that doesn't mean he is out of ammo. And yes barrels get hot when you are consistently firing a weapon they get hot a very common occurence in the military because you may be shooting for an extended period of time. How many times have you fired a military weapon, I just want to make sure you are speaking from experience.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

SO!

[NoSillyName]

I don't want to hear it same as I don't listen to 911 calls on newscasts.

[maribelle1963]

You should listen to it; after all, you're paying for it.

You should know what your money is buying.

[shrinqrap]

What if they gave a war and nobody listened?

It is so rare to have any idea what this sterilized, sanitized "operation", where troops are 'sacrificing' - to use two favoriter terms of the BushCo spinners - is like for the Americans involved in it. The chicken-hawk arm-chair generals who run these wars deliberately hide what is happening, even as they hide the evidence, the coffins, the wounds, the suicides, of what they have done.

They help the average Americans remain in denial - just like the jar-head in this thread who says this cell phone call must be a fraud because grunts dont have cell-phones in the wear zone. Sure.

The horror.

Anybody care to answer WHY this particular fire-fight occured? Anyone ask why our sons and daughters are over there and In these circumstances? Does that even matter?

[nyboomer]

Republicans have always felt that anyone who goes to war is a fool. Wars are there for the poor and middle class to die in or be maimed by.

The right wing likes wars but wants others to fight them. Witness the overwhelming number of chickenhawks in this country's administration. Strangely enough they feel that having fought in a war one is unqualified to make decisions about going to war or run one. They learn about war from movies and TV but abhor first person experience.

Wars are for making a profit.

[GhostintheMachine]

Does that include McCain?

[thisoldbroad]

How frightening for the family! I can't imagine the horror of hearing that message, especially if something had happened to their son. Keep praying for the safety of our troops until we can get them home.

[plages]

Can you hear bush and cheney in the back ground laughing at US!

[Erdgeist]

Once America gets off the MSM blue pill they will realize that we went into Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden, and not finding him decided to take over the country and haven't left yet. After that, we went into Iraq to look for WMDs. Finding no WMDs, we decided to occupy Iraq and haven't left yet. It's all a bit strange that we are staying.

[FilMishMish]

poor memory. we did not go to Iraq to look for WMDs. That was just a weak excuse. They were already there searching for them when Bush pulled them out in order to bomb them.

[londubh]

That would be kinda creepy.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Whew.

Just curious if the answering machine cut off at 3:00, or whether dodging the RPG was it.

[KillTheMessenger]

It is a soldiers business to be shot at. Whoever thinks otherwise might NOT want to sign up for the profession. The point is not that professional soldiers enjoy fighting, but that they are aware that ultimately that is what they train for. So anybody who is the least moved by this tape simply admits that they do not have the slightest clue what the word "war" means. Hint: it is NOT a peaceful deployment to a foreign country which makes good Brioche and has friendly people waiting to throw flowers.

Which is exactly why we are in two wars. Too few people understand what they really signed up for when they elected this president.

[Wanjiru]

...Thank you!...


.

[maribelle1963]

You're right that too few people really understood. It's also true that being moved is not the sign of being ignorant, it's the sign of feeling compassion.

I can read about the Myanmar victims and feel for them, but seeing a picture of a drowned child is felt as a visceral emotion in the gut.

Neither thing is mutually exclusive.

[PennLawyer]

That was horrifying and terrifying to listen to. The thing is, we used to get coverage of fighting like that from Vietnam, almost nightly on the evening news - with video as well. THAT nightly news coverage, and the ever more voracious draft were the prime causes of the American public demanding that the politicians get our troops out of Vietnam. The current administration well knows that cause and effect relationship, and has limited coverage to "imbedded individuals who call themselves journalists, but are nothing more than PR flacks for Bush and the Pentagon.

[BushBites]

I remember those reports from Viet Nam, even though I was very young at the time.

Reporters crouched in fields with the troops, taking fire.

Nothing at all like what "war correspondents" do now.

[maribelle1963]

I listened to the whole thing and tried to imagine what that was like for the men on the tape, and for the parents getting the message. Just another day at the office for those young men.

I CHALLENGE EVERY AMERICAN TO LISTEN to this tape and imagine their own son or daughter there.

~From the mother of an Army medic stationed in Baghdad whose best friend is serving in Afghanistan.

[Matango]

maribelle1963, I'm against the war but just hearing that audio makes me want to grab some extra ammo belts for the guys.

Intense is too light a word for what we just heard.

[maribelle1963]

I"m against the war too, Matango. And this tape reveals clearly what we are putting these young men and women through.

THEY MUST HAVE AMMO--or they will be killed. Should they be sitting ducks? You send someone to hell and they must behave hellishly to survive.

We have to get the hell out of these wars. Seriously. Now.

[angelwax]

Firefights are not a good thing to listen to. I've been in my share a long time ago. Confusion really reigns. Everything is really in slow motion and at the same time it happens so fast. One thing I can say. Sounds like these guys have very good fire discipline. Hard to do in a firefight. This is why everyone of those "patriotic chickenhawks" out there should be in a firefight along with their sons and daughters. Hard to see the guy next to you get half of him blown away and think the same. After that you really are never the same.

[Matango]

GET SOME!

I don't care where you come from or what your religion is, the sound of an M60 is a good indicator that you should run the other way,.