In search of the best 'butt call'

ATHENS, GREECE -- We've all gotten them. Somebody accidentally presses the speed dial or redial button on their cell phone. You get a call and get to "listen in" on the caller, who doesn't know they dialed. They're called "butt calls" because they can happen when someone sits on their phone.

I've received them, and also made them. Most of the time I hear only the person listening to the radio, or yapping to someone else in the car. But sometimes the recipients of "butt calls" hear something extraordinary.

A 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier named Stephen Phillips accidentally made a "butt call" from Afghanistan during a firefight with Taliban insurgents! He inadvertently pressed his phone against a Humvee and called his parents' home in Otis, Oregon. The parents weren't home, so they heard the terrifying exchange on their voice-mail when they got home. Here's the message (warning: contains raw soldier language).

It occurred to me that since "butt calls" are so common, some of them must be pretty interesting. So I'm asking for your best "butt call" stories, and may write about them on this blog if I get some good ones.

Send your stories to: mike.elgan@elgan.com.

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