'They got ambushed,' in Afghanistan, mom of Minnesota Guardsman says
Family members say it was an ambush in Afghanistan province that injured five Minnesota National Guard members this week.
Kim Schwich says her son Robbie Sheets, of Litchfield, was among the wounded. She talked to him on Monday, and he told her he'd been shot in the back and legs in the attack at a forward operating base.
"Pretty much they got ambushed, and I said, 'OK, bomb? Because that's kind of what their troop does. They do roadside bombs: identify where they are, things like that. And he said, 'all of the above.'"
Schwich said that the phone call lasted less than five minutes, and her son couldn't offer her much more detail on the incident.
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"From a mother's point of view, you could almost hear, I mean, I could hear, 'I'm OK mom,'" she said.
The Minnesota National Guard said that five members of the 849th Mobility Augmentation Company were hurt in the attack that killed another soldier. One of the Minnesota soldiers was taken to Germany for treatment.
Reports from Afghanistan say suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a NATO base in the Kandhar region, from which the Minnesotans were working. The attack killed one service member, who has not been identified.
The Minnesota National Guard says it has just over 400 soldiers and airmen deployed to Afghanistan. The 849th left from Litchfield in July. The deployment sent 95 guard members overseas.