I had the same thought - folks rushing to judgment on a Drudge link and a vague story. Could be the teacher was an ass, could be the kid lost his marbles at the teacher.

The story as told just didn't ring true to me. It definitely didn't match with a headline of "Boy Suspended For Call From Mom In Iraq."

As a former military brat you should know that "MOM" might not have the chance to call at a convenient time. Also, you might need to take into consideration of the time difference to the east coast is 8 hr. I was in Iraq working last year, living on a base. There are long lines 24 hr. a day to use the phones to make a call out.

You need to get a reality check!

I had a reality check in the Persian Gulf War, thanks, and not as a worker.
When I got access to a phone, I called the homes of my family members. *Shrug*

Congrats on your getting to visit a real military base. Now if you could only get out to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine, you'd be set up for life.

lol

Donnah,

I reckon that less than civil fellow deserved that kind of response, however, he has a point.

What Mom is doing over there, as you well know, is not just a job. I think it more important that he talk to his mom, maybe for the last time the way things go out there, than to worry about the school having a tizzy over some zero tolerance rule about cell phones - which I thought he was using during lunch time. Was he breaking the rules? You betcha. I think any reasonable person would find it more important to talk to Mom in Indian country than to worry too terribly about that. I was in the Gulf War too, but our heroes today are facing a kind of combat which is something altogether different than most of what we through. If you'll remember the way Kuwait City looked when we first rolled in there - that's their everyday - only the bad guys are still there. I can't imagine what that must be like - we can only have compassion and hope things go best for each one.

My two cents - respectfully submitted.

I agree with most of what you say, Joel. However:
*The school doesn't have a zero tolerance policy, and neither do I. They allow quite a few students with deployed parents to use their phones. All they have to do is ask.
*I was in school while my dad served three tours in Vietnam. His calls were to the house. If you feel our war was piddly; his wasn't. He didn't have any children to not call at school during WWII and Korea.
*I had access to a phone exactly twice while I was in Saudi. With the time differences, once I called my husband in Germany and once I called my parents in Florida. At their houses.
*The story smelled like bullshit to me and it was. He started cursing the teacher as soon as he was asked about the call. The problem wasn't the call -- it was his mouth and his attitude.
*The kid is a jerk who's not seeing the principal's office for the first time.

Thanks for the polite discourse. The previous poster lost it at the last line. I imagine it never dawned on him that I myself had been a soldier.

BTW, where were you in Saudi? I was up by Rafha with the FFL on the left.

Donnah,

Your house, your rules :)

I don't think our war was piddly - bringing death is a horror - but after our major fighting was done, we were in mostly low intensity operations. Protect the force type stuff. My experiences were bad enough, but short-lived. Seems like the folks today get to experience a whole lot more of it - yay them.

I deployed as part of the 3 AD (V corps in FRG - VII Corps in the sandbox) in a ground based intel capacity - team of 6. Since I have an idea (from the crest) of what unit you deployed with, then you probably know some of the kind of work I did based on what I am telling you.

I don't remember where in Saudi we were. We came into Dammam, deployed to our FOB, deployed in a sandstorm with the division, got attached to one of the combat arms brigades just after the big left hook from wadi al batin, and I saw Saudi once after that for a shower at Log Base Echo. We were somewhere not far from KKMC, living in what was apparently prime sheep and camel country, after the demarcation line ops while we pomcus'd our tracks - I think our battalion HQ was in the area of either the Adnan, Medina or Tawakana division's op area in Kuwait - but the teams generally deployed far enough forward of there that we required a lot of relay help to keep comms with Bn.

That's all I can remember - I have tried to block it all out, but that obviously has not worked.

Happy Mothers Day?

Joel-We always worked a split base and did so there, with our planes in Dhahran and us up on the border. Only the Mission Ops of my unit went, and we were attached to the attached etc. Getting an Airborne patch on my sleeve forever was about the only good thing about the deal.
I never got to go to KKMC. I heard it was nice. Our camp was called Rotting Goat and that about sums it up.
I probably don't know what you were doing. You know I was working with a massive deal. I know there were units in Germany whose job involved just using little radios. In Saudi, unless you were a Lurp, I can't see what that did as if there was something on the radio, we'd have heard it.
Landlines were their deal.
Anyways, I stuck in the middle of BFE with a giant ear and two-week old Stars and Stripes. And contractors who ripped us off constantly.

You got a shower? Bastard.

What city were you in in Germany? I was in Wiesbaden.