I have hesitated to post this experience because the very few people I have shared it with have all thought I was either crazy or dreaming when it happened. However, after spending some time on this board and seeing how respectful everyone is toward one another, for the most part, I feel comfortable in hearing what others' have to say.

My husband is a First Lieutenant in the US Army. He was a platoon leader, leading convoys on recon missions out of Base Anaconda in Iraq from January through November of 2008. Being a military wife, I've gotten used to deployments and separations and, while they are never easy, they are par for the course. I'm also not one to worry much about my husband when he is deployed. I know how seriously he takes his training, and how important the safety of his platoon is to him, so I subscribe to the "let go and let God" school of thought.

One night in April, I went to bed earlier than usual because I thought I might be coming down with something. I just wasn't feeling "right". I had no sooner lay down and set the sleep timer on my bedroom television when my ears started ringing so loud that I couldn't hear the sound from the program I was watching. As I lay there, I started hearing, through the ringing, the sound of an explosion, mens' voices yelling, the squawk of a radio and gun fire. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped and I was again able to hear the dulcet tones of Bill Cosby on Nick at Nite.

I was so disturbed by this that I grabbed my journal and wrote this down, noting the time and date that it occurred. A few days later, I got an e-mail from my husband telling me that, while on a routine mission, his convoy was hit by an IED and they had begun taking fire from insurgents in the area. They returned fire and were able to get out of the area. Luckily, no one in the platoon was killed or even injured in the exchange.

I replied to him, asking when this had happened. Judging by the time and date of the incident, I was "hearing" it happen as it was taking place! My husband, a pretty firm skeptic, explained the incident this way: "Honey, you always could read my mind so I'm not surprised at all!"

Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else?

Okay, here is what I wrote in my journal (and please excuse the grammar and punctuation; I'm copying this down verbatim and it was late and I was tired!):

April 23, 2008

It's 10:48 PM and I just had THE WEIRDEST experience! I just laid down to go to sleep and I started hearing a ringing sound in my ears that was so loud it drowned out the TV. I started to sit up but I felt really dizzy and I started to think I was coming down with —–'s flu since I spent the day with her right before she got sick! So anyhoo…i'm laying here waiting for this ringing to stop and I start thinkin' I'm hearing voices and it sounds like men screaming and yelling. I can also hear what sounds like a walky or a radio. there's a loud sound almost like an explosion and I'm hearing popping noises, and all the time i'm still hearing the voices but i can't make out words, just voices. then i'm hearing this "thunk thunk thunk" noise which sounds like the heavy artillery when they're on the range or blowing crud up at Camp ——-. Like a 50 cal. that's what it sounds like. then, all of a sudden, as quick as it starts, it just stops.

Okay, so i know that i'm probably having one of those waking dreams and subconsciously i'm just worrying about K—- being safe over there but wow! That was freakin' WEIRD!!  Wonder if I should tell him about it next time he calls or if he'll think i'm being silly?

Okay that's what I wrote immediately after it happened. Now, here is the email I got from him 3 days later, copied and pasted:

Hey baby I miss you. I'm working my ass off over here and it's been really frickin' hot (no crud huh? lol) every day. How are the kids? Tell A—— I got her picture and card that she made me and I hung it up in my office in the motor pool. Tell D—- I wear my guardian angel pin under the brim of my cover and of course, I wear the St. Christopher that you got me in Savannah.

Speaking of St. Chris, I think he came in handy a couple days ago. I wanted to tell you before A—- or C—– hear it from J— or D— and tell you and then you think I'm keeping things from you (i know how you are about that! lol)

So we're coming back from a routine patrol the other morning and it was really quiet. I was in the third vehicle (cuz you know Sgt. J——- won't let me ride up front cuz i'm an ossifer…lmao!!) and all of a sudden there's dirt and sand flying everywhere and Sgt. B—–'s vehicle right in front of mine starts weaving. Someone yells "F— they just got hit!" and I'm thinking oh crud…so I'm on the radio and J—-'s yelling at everyone to get ready for some action. (you know how he is…like a kid in a big candy store when the crud hits the fan! lol)

Well, next thing you know we're taking fire from a compound that i swear we've driven by 100 times in the last couple months and never saw anything but goats (or girlfriends as B—— calls 'em…lol). So we're returning fire and next thing you know Spc. E—- (he was my gunner on this mission) kind of slumps down and I'm like "OH F— HE GOT HIT" but he just took a bullet in the helmet and it dazed him. So we get Spc. R——– up there in his place and E—- is kind of freaked but he's alright, now he's just pissed off about his helmet. LOL so…long story short, everyone was okay. The vehicle tire was blown but no one was hurt. Couple of guys in the vehicle got bruised up a little but the only real casualty of the day was E—-'s helmet! LOL

Well, I love you and I think about you all the time. Gotta go write an op order before Maj. C— rips my ass off and hands it back to me! LOL Tell the yahoos I love em and i bought em something at a street market that i think they'll like. Tell E—- to tell the kids at church thanks for the candy, the kids over here love it and now when they see us coming they chase us for candy! LOL hope to call you soon, i miss your voice.

So….what do you think. Crazy? That's what pretty much everyone I've told about this tells me but I know what happened and I really think I was experiencing what he went through at the time.

Thanks Drache. People in my family tease my husband and I that when we are together we are lost in our own little world, and we are always finishing each others' sentences, etc. I really feel like he is my other half in the truest sense of the word so it's not really at all surprising to me that I would be able to sense that he was going through a very highly charged experience.

When I was pregnant with our second child he was in Japan when I went into labor (one month early I might add!) He knew immediately that I was in labor! So this isn't the first time he and I have had "telepathic" moments.

Thanks Stephen. That's the greatest response I've gotten from anyone that I've told! :) And I do agree it's probably not "paranormal" per se; I do think when you are as attuned to someone as he and I are to one another that it's not unusual to (for lack of a better way of putting it) "read" each others' thoughts and experiences. That's the best explanation I can come up with anyway. And thanks for the "not crazy" thing, though I suppose there are worse things I could be accused of being! LOL