BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...

Subject: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Bettynh
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 02:48 PM

I got a text message yesterday from my son who is in the army, training at Fort Sam Houston:

"Don't worry, I'm ok. I was in class at the time."

Checked the radar - no tornado. Checked news for San Antonio - a guy had attacked his girl friend on the base, followed by a car chase. Whew! But it took me 15 panicked minutes to find that out. Meanwhile, I got an anxious phone call from his brother, who got the same text.

Lesson for the Day: If there is an awful event nearby and you want to reassure your family that you're ok, maybe SOME CLUE about what happened should be part of the text.

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 03:02 PM

Called my mother one time around midnight, from a public phone.

I said, "I just wanted to let you know I'll be home in a bit. Oh yes, if the police ask, please tell them we went to the drag races. Gotta go. Bye." and hung up.

When I got home at 2 a.m. she was still up....

Or when I got my orders to come home from Korea, back in '69 (long story). I went to the Post Telephone and Telegraph Office to see about calling her collect (my brother had done so from Vietnam). I couldn't place such a collect call. So I wrote a telegram, which cost me $7.00 and left me 20 cents for two cheap beers that evening. Meanwhile...back in Illinois...the phone rings. "Hello, this is the Post Office. We have a telegram for you from Korea."

Oh, s**t. I had forgotten that in WW2 that was how next of kin were notified that Something Bad had happened. Mother said, "Let me sit down." She did, they read the telegram, which was something like "Have orders home Wednesday."

When I landed at the airport she told me never, ever to send her a telegram again.

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: olddude
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 04:10 PM

I hear ya my friend, you are talking to a guy who had a kid in the Colorado movie theater at the time of the shooting. I still panic. thank God she was ok

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: GUEST,Lavengro
Date: 11 Jun 13 - 06:44 PM

@Olddude

Can't imagine, and please God I never have to.

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Midchuck
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 11:58 AM

Let me tell you about the time, three or four years ago, that I booted up the computer and saw on Google or Yahoo or something News that a whole downtown block of Bozeman, MT, had blown ski-high from a gas leak. About two blocks over and two up from my daughter's clinic.

Some frantic 'phoning established that they had no damage beyond rattled windows - there were enough buildings in between to absorb the effects - but I was going pretty hard there for a few minutes.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Bettynh
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 01:33 PM

Yes, Peter, that's my point. Cellphones are a blessing, there's no doubt, when frightening things happen. The current advice to text is good, too, since texting doesn't clog up the relay towers. But a clue about context might be a good idea, too.


This business of army is new to my family. I'm humbled by the thought of my grandparents writing daily to their son in whoknowswhere with no hope of reply for weeks. Some things don't change, though. My dad described the last strafing attack on his base in Saipan (this was the only gunfire he was subject to during the whole war). The message that he was safe was no doubt welcome. The letters over the following week repeating that he was "really ok" were far more disturbing. After reading the third letter, I found myself screaming, "I'm sure they're glad you're ok, but..." down the years and miles.

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: gnu
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 01:41 PM

Harrowing, all!

Not as harrowing re my uncle Chic... WW2; telegram - MIA and presumed dead; in US field hospital after "explosion" (he didn't know what happened) under jeep; 7 days until the second telegram. Seems odd that he was unconcious four 4 days, awake for two days, released and the RCA new nothing about it until he rejoined (found) his unit. He had no knowledge of any telegram.

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jun 13 - 11:52 PM

Fog of War Gnu?

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 13 Jun 13 - 04:40 AM

.... 15 panicked minutes to find that out. Meanwhile, I got an anxious phone call from his brother, .......

Might have been quicker for either or both of you to text back:

    "I'm glad you're ok, but... what happened?"


DC

Subject: RE: BS: I'm glad you're ok, but...
From: Bettynh
Date: 13 Jun 13 - 10:50 AM

Right, Doug. I did panic. In my defense, Boston is 35 miles from here, and his base isn't far from the base where the Army psychaitrist randomly killed 13 people. By the time he called to talk an hour later I knew more about what had happened than he did. I've just barely entered the world of cell phones and texting. It probably would have taken me half an hour to type clean text and send the message. Meanwhile, I knew he was ok. Funny old world, innit?