austinphillips

Jamie Phillips | Special to The Sun

Army Spc. Austin Phillips and son Gunner pose for a picture together before the soldier departed with members of the regionally-based 875th Engineer Batallion in September bound for Iraq where he sustained injuries during a Tuesday morning incident.

Members of the 875th Injured in Iraq

When her cell phone rang Tuesday morning, Jamie Phillips knew who placed the call but felt worry flowing over her.

Her husband, Army National Guard Spc. Austin Phillips, 26, a Black Rock native, had just left the surgical table. A member of the regionally based 875th Engineer Batallion, he has been in Iraq since September.

“I found out at 10:58 a.m. He called me right after surgery. He sounded like an old man, and that scared me. He had surgery to his neck and face. I believe they’re going to do surgery on his knee when he gets to Washington [D.C.],” she shared Thursday.

The soldier’s mother, Lesia Phillips, said he had spoken with his wife and father, Danny, about the events that unfolded earlier that day in Iraq that left several members of the battalion injured.

“From what I understand, two hand grenades were involved. One landed outside and exploded, and the other one landed inside the vehicle they were in and exploded. That’s what the Army told us,” Lesia Phillips stated.

This article focuses more on the reaction of the relatives of the injured soldiers which is understandable. Here’s what really happened.

An email from Iraq.

I am fine, two of the soldiers ended up heading over to Germany, one’s return to duty. One of the guys in Germany should be RTD but they wanted to do some other surgery out of country, the third lost some of his toes, he was up for re-enlistment so he re-enlisted, he’ll be in recovery for about a year.

I knew one of the guys, he was in my company, I believe he’s the return to duty one. Bunch of idiot teenagers/mid 20s guys throwing grenades. That was the first incident our unit has had in the three plus months we’ve been here. They must have been pissed about Saddam (probably). Of course the bad guys/kids ran into a Mosque (naturally the cav guys weren’t allowed to go in, that’s where the Iraqi Army comes in. Good thing is, 1st Cav was in the area and got over and secured it fast. They take control real fast, those guys are great.

Our guys got through it, thank God.

Part of the enemy’s goal is to psychologically defeat soldiers but it doesn’t work because of guys like the one who lost part of his foot, he re-enlisted after he came out of surgery. I am pretty proud of what this unit has done so far. Remember that guy from the New York Times who said “soldiers are the most brutal now of any soldiers in the past”? He couldn’t possibly be more wrong or more insane.

God bless the troops and their families and may their recoveries be complete and swift.

Hot Air has more on the great things our troops are doing in Iraq.