Posted on 02/20/2011 9:45:32 AM PST by GailA
WOODBURY, Tenn. - A military mom said she would do anything to answer her son's phone call from overseas, no matter what the cost.
Some seven months ago, Lance Corporal Mark Rhyne left the little town of Woodbury, for the remote deserts of Afghanistan.
"I told my son the day he deployed as he was about to get on that bus, 'I will stand in your steed while you are gone, I will stand,'" his mother Teresa Danford said.
On Monday, while working inside the Crane Interiors factory, Teresa Danford said she kept her word.
Mark called from Afghanistan, using a Satellite phone. It was a rare opportunity he only gets maybe once a month.
"You don't want to miss a word because truthfully that might be the last time you hear from them," Danford said.
Danford knew about Crane's no cell phone policy but answered anyway.
"There is nothing in this world that would stop a mother from answering a phone call from her son and what if it was not my son? What if he'd been hurt and someone was trying to contact me?" asked Danford.
The next day, Teresa was suspended from work without pay for three days. This was a first offense, and managers told her next time, she'd be fired.
"I said 'you are aware that my son is serving in Afghanistan and he can only call me when that sat phone gets to his unit' and he looked me straight in the eyes and said 'yes,'" Danford said.
Larry Officer is a Human Resource Manager at Crane Interiors. He sent NewsChannel 5 the following statement: "It is our policy that there is to be no cell phones used during working hours due to safety concerns within a production environment. Employees are allowed to use cell phones during breaks and lunches. We have a communicated policy for all employees to be reached in case of an emergency."
Danford said she fully expects to be fired for going public. But she remembered the promise she made to her son, the promise to always support him.
"If I didn't do this, then I couldn't live with myself. So if I lose my job, I lose my job. But I will have done what I gave my son my word that I would do," Danford added.
A lot of people have gotten wind of this story already, and they're not ignoring it.
A petition was posted online to demand that military family members are granted the right to answer calls from their loved ones serving over seas.
That's all Danford was asking for. She said talking to her son once a month gives her peace of mind, and gives her son the strength he needs to continue his work overseas.
Danford's son is scheduled to return home in a month, when he'll meet his son for the first time.
Email: ahara@newschannel5.com
During the civil war we didn't even have phones or cars and people learned to deal with loping off arms and legs that were injured. So what?
No. It's not. They've learned their lesson, and we should be willing to forgive, even though they don't owe US anything, because WE weren't harmed by their actions.
I ‘get’ that it could be dangerous in a production environment to have an employee on the cell phone for any reason. BUT the company could adopt a policy where an employee in these circumstances would have an instant fill-in person to take over her responsibilities and get her away from the production line for the duration of the call.
If you aren't in management, you sure ought to be.
Thanks I was about to call for them to be FReeped and FReeped hard.
It's also dispiriting to not be able to speak with a child in a military war zone who you may never hear from again if you miss "that" phone call. Many have perished in Iraq, Afghanistan (and yes, previous other wars) with just one month of military service to go.....
No not quite...
I bet he doesnt dare say BOO to the Somali moslems who also work there...
Sadly the MARS Network has been almost completely dismantled.
I dont have a child in Iraq or Afghanistan but I sure wouldnt object to someone at work taking a call from their son who is there...
I hope her fellow workers supported her...
She should have made arrangements, instead of forcing her views and opinions on how the comapany should be run on everyone else, including the owners.
She is a spoiled little whiner.
I agree and now that this company has seemingly bent the rules for one employee, they're going to have a more difficult time enforcing the rules on their other employees. It's now a big management headache.
FWIW, I would've never received this call. I work in a secured government facility and cell phones are treated as recording devices and banned from the premises (whether they have a camera or not). My phone stays in the glove box of my car when I arrive to work each morning. I can check messages during my lunch break. My very pregnant wife at home knows to call me at my office number should any emergency arise.
As a Ret. Senior Chief’s wife you’re still providing your voice to the Chain of Concern. Bravo Zulu!
Ret. U.S. Army Major.
Did you bother to watch the video. He MAYBE/RARELY gets the use of the Sat phone once a month and never knows when or where.
Mom’s may be more emotional as are wives/husband/dad’s of Military men and women on the front lines, because we know our Loved Ones are at risk every second.
You may think we are selfish or mean spirited, but these are our kids/wives/husbands being blown to bits or killed on a daily basis.
I can put myself in her shoes...I am the wife of a Ret. Senior Chief, and the mom of a murdered child. Don’t you think I’d do any thing to hear my Jeremy’s voice just once more?
And we Military families determined when this all began that no one would treat these young men and women like the men who served in Nam were treated.
“It’s dispiriting to see how many freepers are running roughshod over a private companies freedoms.”
I agree with you. To assume that the company should be punished for enforcing reasonable rules - suppliers contacted, business avoided is a tad harsh.
What is missing in this story is whether this woman tried to let her bosses know in advance that she was going to get a call from a son in Afghanistan during work hours. If it is so important to her, why didn’t she do this? The company may well have been much more reasonable about things if they could plan for it. Sorry, I see this as typical “stick it to the boss-man” behavior.
I don’t blame her for wanting to take her sons phone call, but I don’t blame the company for not wanting her to use a cell phone either. She could have been proactive, but wasn’t. Why?
Yep. Bad publicity for the company - maybe this, along with Freeper actions to punish this company will run them straight out of business. That would be good, right?
If I missed call, he left a “I'm OK’ message.
When his unit (his company and squad) got hit with an IED, and he lost 3 of his squadmates - we waited for an email/call about his status. Not a pleasant time for the family.
We found out later that 10 seconds was difference between a visit from a casualty Officer and waiting for an email... in either case, I could have done damn-all. Such is life for service families.
That said - Sorry, safety rules are there for everyone working at the plant. You take the job, take the dough, follow the rules. Could the boss be more flexible - yes. Could we all do with a lot less drama? YEs again.
Despite all the senseless “mommy’ drama, I won't call you a thoughtless jerk..... after all I don't know any more about you - then you do about me.
BINGO! Those calls are short as there is a long line of others waiting to make calls.
Actually, he could read the comments from a few posters, here, and feel his conduct was appropriate. How sad.
True, but they didn’t have 0bama as their PRES__ENT, nor his ROE’s, either.
Unfortunately, even sh#t jobs are hard to come be, especially in small towns like Woodbury (about 30 minutes from here).
Thanks Sand Rat for your service and your BZ. I stand with our Serving men and women first and foremost.
Unless you’ve walked that mile you really don’t know what it is like.
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