Being a passenger on a plane that was on fire. Though we all had a parachute on they wouldn't let us jump out. *shrugs* Fear of having to pay some tobacco farmer for all the damage to his crops. I'd think 65 lives would be worth more than some guys crops.
Gotta love the military.
--LT
Your Scariest Moments
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Losethem (imported)
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bobover3 (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
Some real scary moments here. My life seems tame by comparison. You guys are stronger than you know to have survived all that.
Jackie, I tip my hat to you. That Vietnam story sounds like a trip to hell.
Jackie, I tip my hat to you. That Vietnam story sounds like a trip to hell.
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tugon (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
butterflyjack (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2012 5:54 am In VietNam...down in the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta..We were gathered, waiting for choppers to take us back to base camp when we were mortared..The guy about 20 feet from me was blown up, and my Lieutenant, Francis X Love, from Brooklyn, NY was injured to the point that he never came back to the unit...and I heard the next rounds leave the tube...to land who knows where...Scared the crap outa me..We, as usual, never even saw the Cong using the mortar....Five or six quick rounds and they took off...Man..was I glad to get out of there... This was about the point in my life where I started drinking...Kept it up for another 25 years...I guess, this had a profound effect on me..I still jump and startle very easily..PTSD, I assume....Jackie
Yes I would say PTSD. My brother-in-law still suffers from what he experienced in Viet Nam. Thank you for your service and it sounds like you are still serving in a fashion. Peace!
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Slammr (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
My dad took me on a ferris wheel when I was seven. I was deathly afraid of heights at the time, I think from the time when he took me on a ferris wheel when I was two. I remember that time to this day. My mom was on the ground, and the ground, along with her, disappeared.
On the ferris wheel ride when I was seven, I screamed the whole time.
"Let me off. I'm just a little kid. Let me off."
It embarrassed the shit out of my dad. He never took me on another ride after that.
At about sixteen, I cured myself of my fear of heights by climbing old oil derricks that existed in East Texas at that time. I climbed up one as far as I could go and came back down. Next time, I would climb a little farther. Eventually, I could climb all the way to the top, and was pretty well cured of my fear of heights. My cousin, the same age as I was, would walk the railing at the top of the derricks. I didn't have the courage or the balance to do that.
Since then, I've had other frightening things happen: guns pointed at me, an assault at my home - I was hit over the head with a steel bar, beaten, tied up and left for dead in my garage (I was shamming and got loose as soon as they were gone).
When I was in the Army in Alaska, I was a radar operator at an antiaircraft missile battery around Anchorage. We had an alert. We could see multiple tracks of planes coming from the direction of Russia. This was about 1960, so war with Russia was a real possibility. As far as we knew, it was a real attack. If it were, we were probably as good as dead, but I was excited not scared. The only comment I can remember from anyone around me was, "Shit, now I'll get extended." (not let out on his regular discharge date).
It turned out to be a drill, but for a long time, we didn't know it was.
I really don't remember being afraid since that time when I was seven. If anything, in frightening situations, I get steely cold. In the assault situation, my actual thoughts were that it was an interesting experience, even though they were threatening to kill me. One of them asked, "Do you want me to let these guys kill you?"
My response was a simple, "No."
I'd been hit over the head four of five times with a five foot long steel bar. I'd been hit on the shoulder with it. I'd been kicked in the side and punched several times. One of my fingers was broken. They tied my hands and feet with duct tape, put a piece of it over my mouth, and put me in my garage. I feigned passing out, but I was never actually close to becoming unconscious.
During the whole experience, I was never at all afraid. My attitude toward being killed was, shit happens, I guess. My attitude toward it as it happened was more, this is exciting, than anything else.
They were stupid about the way they tied me up, tying my hands in front. I used my hands to rip the duct tape off my mouth and feet and used my teeth to get it off my wrists. They ripped out the phones in the house, but I went across the street to a neighbor's house, and she called the cops. I thought it was funny that she made me wait on the porch, but I was bleeding all over it I guess. I don't blame her for not wanting blood all over the carpet.
I've had several close calls. I was working as a logger out of Ketchikan, Alaska. I was going down slope to get a drink from a stream. We were doing high lead logging. A cable goes from a tower at the landing to a block at the other end of the area being logged. Never walk under that cable. It can cut a person in half. That day, I forgot. The cable came down, actually brushing my right sleeve, and dug a trench about a half foot deep in the ground. If it had hit me, it would have cut me in half.
I did have an, oh fuck!, reaction to that, but it wasn't fear.
When I was in high school, we were playing our version of rural mailbox baseball (One of many reasons I liked The Stand. Having grown up during the 50s, I could relate to it). We were in my car, but it was my turn as batter, so I was in the passenger seat, and another kid was driving. He swerved for me to hit the mailbox, and ended up doing a 360 slide down the road. Everything slowed, and I went steely cold. I was never scared, I was concerned that my first car was about to be wrecked, but was never scared.
I can't explain why that happens, but it always does.
On the ferris wheel ride when I was seven, I screamed the whole time.
"Let me off. I'm just a little kid. Let me off."
It embarrassed the shit out of my dad. He never took me on another ride after that.
At about sixteen, I cured myself of my fear of heights by climbing old oil derricks that existed in East Texas at that time. I climbed up one as far as I could go and came back down. Next time, I would climb a little farther. Eventually, I could climb all the way to the top, and was pretty well cured of my fear of heights. My cousin, the same age as I was, would walk the railing at the top of the derricks. I didn't have the courage or the balance to do that.
Since then, I've had other frightening things happen: guns pointed at me, an assault at my home - I was hit over the head with a steel bar, beaten, tied up and left for dead in my garage (I was shamming and got loose as soon as they were gone).
When I was in the Army in Alaska, I was a radar operator at an antiaircraft missile battery around Anchorage. We had an alert. We could see multiple tracks of planes coming from the direction of Russia. This was about 1960, so war with Russia was a real possibility. As far as we knew, it was a real attack. If it were, we were probably as good as dead, but I was excited not scared. The only comment I can remember from anyone around me was, "Shit, now I'll get extended." (not let out on his regular discharge date).
It turned out to be a drill, but for a long time, we didn't know it was.
I really don't remember being afraid since that time when I was seven. If anything, in frightening situations, I get steely cold. In the assault situation, my actual thoughts were that it was an interesting experience, even though they were threatening to kill me. One of them asked, "Do you want me to let these guys kill you?"
My response was a simple, "No."
I'd been hit over the head four of five times with a five foot long steel bar. I'd been hit on the shoulder with it. I'd been kicked in the side and punched several times. One of my fingers was broken. They tied my hands and feet with duct tape, put a piece of it over my mouth, and put me in my garage. I feigned passing out, but I was never actually close to becoming unconscious.
During the whole experience, I was never at all afraid. My attitude toward being killed was, shit happens, I guess. My attitude toward it as it happened was more, this is exciting, than anything else.
They were stupid about the way they tied me up, tying my hands in front. I used my hands to rip the duct tape off my mouth and feet and used my teeth to get it off my wrists. They ripped out the phones in the house, but I went across the street to a neighbor's house, and she called the cops. I thought it was funny that she made me wait on the porch, but I was bleeding all over it I guess. I don't blame her for not wanting blood all over the carpet.
I've had several close calls. I was working as a logger out of Ketchikan, Alaska. I was going down slope to get a drink from a stream. We were doing high lead logging. A cable goes from a tower at the landing to a block at the other end of the area being logged. Never walk under that cable. It can cut a person in half. That day, I forgot. The cable came down, actually brushing my right sleeve, and dug a trench about a half foot deep in the ground. If it had hit me, it would have cut me in half.
I did have an, oh fuck!, reaction to that, but it wasn't fear.
When I was in high school, we were playing our version of rural mailbox baseball (One of many reasons I liked The Stand. Having grown up during the 50s, I could relate to it). We were in my car, but it was my turn as batter, so I was in the passenger seat, and another kid was driving. He swerved for me to hit the mailbox, and ended up doing a 360 slide down the road. Everything slowed, and I went steely cold. I was never scared, I was concerned that my first car was about to be wrecked, but was never scared.
I can't explain why that happens, but it always does.
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Slammr (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
I, too, tip my hat to Jackie, for his courage and for his service. It's my pleasure to know you, Jackie.
I can certainly understand River's comment about his ex wife. I have a similar reaction when I see mine, and since she's the mother of my kids, I do see her, or pictures of her, from time to time. Mostly, I'm relieved that I'm no longer married to her, and no doubt, she feels the same about me.
Mostly, she triggers a gag response rather than a fear response. That's unkind but true.
I can certainly understand River's comment about his ex wife. I have a similar reaction when I see mine, and since she's the mother of my kids, I do see her, or pictures of her, from time to time. Mostly, I'm relieved that I'm no longer married to her, and no doubt, she feels the same about me.
Mostly, she triggers a gag response rather than a fear response. That's unkind but true.
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Slammr (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
I thought of another close call:
I lived in a log cabin at mile 18 1/2 Steese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steese_Highway)Hwy out of Fairbanks, AK. I reloaded my own ammunition. I was shooting my single action 44 mag revolver. I pulled the trigger and heard no more than a little pop.
"What the fuck?"
I cocked the hammer and was about to pull the trigger, when I thought better of it. I let the hammer down and dropped the cylinder. I hadn't put any powder in that cartridge, but the primer had fired, and it had been enough to propel the bullet into the barrel. It was stuck flush with the back of the barrel. If I'd pulled the trigger on that next round, the revolver would have blown up in my face. My nearest neighbor lived miles away.
I lived in a log cabin at mile 18 1/2 Steese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steese_Highway)Hwy out of Fairbanks, AK. I reloaded my own ammunition. I was shooting my single action 44 mag revolver. I pulled the trigger and heard no more than a little pop.
"What the fuck?"
I cocked the hammer and was about to pull the trigger, when I thought better of it. I let the hammer down and dropped the cylinder. I hadn't put any powder in that cartridge, but the primer had fired, and it had been enough to propel the bullet into the barrel. It was stuck flush with the back of the barrel. If I'd pulled the trigger on that next round, the revolver would have blown up in my face. My nearest neighbor lived miles away.
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Dave (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
Heights. Whenever I get near the edge of a curb and I get slightly nuts with fear.
I keep that well under control but it's always there - fear of heights and falling over.
Anything without a railing and I get Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I keep that well under control but it's always there - fear of heights and falling over.
Anything without a railing and I get Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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Eunuchus (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
On August 6 of this year. I decided to mow the pond using my small Farm-all Tractor.It had dried out from the drought and was grown up in weeds. I did OK until I went up the bank and ran over a small log in the weeds.It caused my tractor to raise up,then me and the tractor rolled to the bottom. I felt a blow to my left side and my face. Once I was able to think, all I could think of was the mower is still running, and where am I. The tractor finally died, so I knew the mower had stopped. When I finally was able to tell where I was, I happened to me looking at the mower blades. All I could think of at that time was to get and get help. I was able to get up and head to the house. My neighbor saw it happen and came over and called an ambulance for me. At that point I could hardly breathe without the worst pain I ever had in my life. Oh, and one hell of a headache. I ended up breaking ribs 2 through 7 front and rear on my left side. I also cracked my left cheek bone.
While in the ER my blood pressure dropped to 90 over 50. I'll stop there
While in the ER my blood pressure dropped to 90 over 50. I'll stop there
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Dave (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
That's called SHOCK and it kills faster and more often than the underlying injury.
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Riverwind (imported)
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Re: Your Scariest Moments
Dave (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 04, 2012 2:10 pm Heights. Whenever I get near the edge of a curb and I get slightly nuts with fear.
I keep that well under control but it's always there - fear of heights and falling over.
Anything without a railing and I get Dumb, dumb, dumb.
I have been giving this thread a lot of thought and I think my scariest moments are related to heights, more specific falling.
Its not rational, but if I am in a tall building I don't go up next to the window to look down, I wont get on the roof of a house, I have a problem if I get above the third rung of a ladder. However planes don't bother me, I can't fall out. So is it the height or falling that is the real fear. Its a real fear and logic tells you that falling can never hurt you, landing is another story.
I agree with Dave, Dumb dumb dumb.
When I was at my first base the Sgt I worked for said 'lets go up to the tower' it had open metal steps with rails and all safe as can be, I froze 40 ft up we had 10 ft to go I was white as a sheet. Three people helped me back to the ground. Was this rational? NO but real.
Threat is different, but pure fear - heights, its always been heights.
River