Have you used a SATCOM phone to call home while under fire? (Reference to American Sniper)

LTC Richard Wasserman — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:24:05 -0500

Like in the movie: Sniper. Have you or anyone you know used a SAT phone to call home while under fire?

Response by SFC Vernon McNabb made Feb 9 at 2015 2:27 PM

SFC Vernon McNabb — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:27:15 -0500

Never used a SAT phone to call home, but once, when TDY in the Bahamas, I used the HF radio to wish my wife Happy Birthday. Even the guys at the Miami Service Center helped sing Happy Birthday.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2015 2:36 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 14:36:24 -0500

I was on a Iridium phone on a roof in Ramadi speaking to my now ex-wife trying to have her order flowers for a fellow Marine's wife that was going through some marital troubles. She heard some pop shots over the phone but I was never in direct contact. Kinda of a weird feeling but I think it brought her a new found realization of what I was going through over there.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2015 3:04 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 15:04:12 -0500

Ah the good ol iridium phone, move an inch or two to the left or right and BOOM dropped call. I was at Rustamiyah in 06 and took incoming while on the phone home. Luckily when I took off for the bunker the call dropped and didn't have to do any splainin to the folks back home!

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Feb 9 at 2015 3:29 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 15:29:50 -0500

Our "contractor" had a SAT phone and let me make a call to the states in 2003. We tried getting our Irai dog home and he was going to foot the entire bill. Poor Bandit didn't live long enough to get out.

Response by SP5 Michael Rathbun made Feb 9 at 2015 3:43 PM

SP5 Michael Rathbun — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 15:43:00 -0500

*ENVY*

If you were near an installation that had a MARS station, and it was manned, and they could set up a schedule for a phone patch with a participating Ham they could find who wasn't TOO much of a long-distance call, you could make an appointment and get a few minutes of talk time on a half-duplex HF SSB circuit back to CONUS with a potentially unlimited number of eavesdroppers.

Otherwise, try cassette tapes and the multi-week turnaround time.

Response by SGT Dougoas Williams made Feb 9 at 2015 4:04 PM

SGT Dougoas Williams — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 16:04:26 -0500

I have been talking and made contact so you say bye and run to the fighting position

Response by SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA made Feb 9 at 2015 4:07 PM

SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 16:07:50 -0500

My business partner was deployed through JSOC and told me the story how his wife kept calling the team SAT phone and bitching him out, one day a firefight started and he was like "baby, I need to go, we are engaged", she was like "you better not hang up!" lol
Of thats how he tells it...I CANNOT imagine having the extra burden of speaking with family when I was deployed thank goodness there was no phones when I went to Iraq. When I deployed, I was gone, he life at home did not exist ever, even for training deployments.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2015 5:10 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:10:13 -0500

I have used a Sat phone many times to call home - especially during my first deployment - but never while under fire. During my third, I used one maybe 2x to call home because most of the time I had access to other types of phone service for calling home.

Response by SFC Collin McMillion made Feb 9 at 2015 5:15 PM

SFC Collin McMillion — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:15:07 -0500

Believe it or not, I never called home for 2 reasons. 1-I was not allowed to tell them where I was at. 2- I could not tell them what I was doing. My family worried a lot, but would have worried more if they knew or even suspected the details of my job. I just felt it was better for everyone.

P.S. I did write as often as I could on old c-ration boxes just to tell them I was OK and not real happy there. Postage was free anyway.....lol

Response by CSM Christopher St. Cyr made Feb 9 at 2015 5:28 PM

CSM Christopher St. Cyr — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 17:28:34 -0500

Not I, but one of my Sergeants was on a landline home when our building was attacked with a rocket. The warhead failed to explode (thankfully) but can through the air vent landing on the floor about three feet from the desk the phone was on. As I rushed up the stairs to find out what happened I met him on the stairs. He stopped long enough to tell us not to go up stairs because there was a mortar rolling around waiting to explode. Later he says he told his wife, "Hon, I gotta go!" and hung up before she had a chance to ask what happened! It was one of the funniest and scariest times on the that deployment at the same time.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2015 7:05 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 19:05:54 -0500

So no and yes.... So there I was on the roof a 3 story apartment building on Italian Army Compound called Camp Viannini in down Herat, Afghanistan. When a rocket was fired at the "4 Star" Hotel (in name only). I was on the Satephone with my wife. I didn't tell her what happened. I briefly but calmly finished the conversation and grabbed my M4 and IOTV. I wanted to fight but just a hit a run. They didn't come my way that day.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Feb 9 at 2015 7:55 PM

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 19:55:10 -0500

I couldn't believe he did that. From the standpoint of OPSEC, from the standpoint of Situational Awareness, etc., it was just an incredibly stupid thing to do. Then his wife hearing all the @#%@# going on! If I had been in his shoes, that's the last thing I would have done, and I've been plenty homesick.

Of course in my day, calls home on deployment were few and far between and way too expensive besides...

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 9 at 2015 9:17 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 21:17:21 -0500

I was on an Iridium Sat phone call to my in-laws in 2010 having them help me order a gift for my wife when we took some mortar fire. It was indirect but somewhat close. I was sitting next to our up armored hi-Lux when the round hit so I just stayed put since it was the safest place near me. I did say a quick expletive and my father in-law who is a vet himself asked what was up. I just told him that a mortar round landed and I was gunna sit tight for a minute to make sure no more were on the way. There was a pregnant pause on the line and he said "uhhhh, I can let you go if you got some things to take care of."

It was a weird moment, but it makes for a funny story now.

Response by SGM Erik Marquez made Feb 9 at 2015 10:47 PM

SGM Erik Marquez — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 22:47:08 -0500

Under Indirect fire yes, direct fire no.

Response by CSM Dean Bridges made Feb 10 at 2015 8:47 AM

CSM Dean Bridges — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 08:47:19 -0500

Not durning a fire fight but many times before or after

Response by SSG LaKeshia Edghill made Feb 10 at 2015 8:49 AM

SSG LaKeshia Edghill — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 08:49:25 -0500

We had a SAT phone in Iraq at my SSA, but it was in the Stk Ctrl van and we could only use it on Sundays.

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 11 at 2015 1:04 AM

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 01:04:31 -0500

Um I feel in all fairness I should point out that technically he didn't call home during a firefight. He called home and then the firefight occurred. Is it truly his fault? I think not.