An Army soldier in Afghanistan made a call on his cell phone to his parents in Oregon one morning last month -- after the call, he slipped the phone back into his pocket. Later that day, the soldier and his unit were involved in an active firefight. The redial button of his cell phone was bumped and the audio from the battle was recorded on his parents answering machine. His brother posted it on YouTube.

I'm trying to imagine how the parents felt, listening to this...

Yes, me too. I should have added no one in his unit was hurt in the fight.

That's good news...

This is an unexpected - and unexpectedly clear - window into a world that most people never experience.

I heard about this on NPR yesterday. I wonder how long they were listening to their son engaged in a firefight before they started recording...

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Originally posted by CrazyPoet:
I'm trying to imagine how the parents felt, listening to this...

I'm trying not to imagine it, they must have been scared to death for their son.

quote:

Originally posted by SubChop:

quote:

Originally posted by CrazyPoet:
I'm trying to imagine how the parents felt, listening to this...

I'm trying not to imagine it, they must have been scared to death for their son.

Exactly my point - and the helplessness of not knowing...

Urk.

quote:

the helplessness of not knowing...

Thats nothing new for them they live on pins and needles every day of there lives.No parent could live other wise with there son in that hell.

not to be a dick.....but using and carrying around a cell phone in Afghanistan is a good way to be tracked by the "bad guy".....

I personally wouldn't carry a cell phone with me. First off, the range of a cell phone in hilly terrain is roughly 3 miles. I couldn't even get a good signal at Ft. Indiantown Gap, and that was in PA, which has much better cell service than Afganistan. So there is no need to have one on patrol.

I don't think that we have to worry about Taliban cell-phone direction finding equipment. Something tells me that they are more worried about getting their people fed and supplied with food than worried about triangulating cell phone traffic from American patrols.

Secondly, and I am just going out on a limb here, I wouldn't want one with me incase I lose it. Now all of my personal contact information, including numbers from my family, are at the Taliban's fingertips. Can you imagine being captured and now your family is called by your captors? Or, can you imagine losing your cell phone and now your captors are calling your parent or wife, telling them yow they tortured and killed you, even though you are safe back at the FOB?

I just can't think of anything good that can happen carrying a cell phone in country.

BT