Cajun

Vietnam.......

Cajun

Norsican

a couple of feet from a guy who got hit when somebody decided to spray a house in a drive by with numerous Ak-47s.

Lone Ranger

Glad you're okay. That had to be an adrenaline flush deluxe.

I've been shot at a twice in the line of duty. Second time I felt the bullet pass my head, which was a pure luck as the shot came from a snub .38 at about 100'. We were clearing the street area of congregating club patrons after closing time on a hot summer weekend night in the central part of our city, and we had made some shots-fired runs in the same area earlier in the shift. Could not return fire due to too many people milling around behind the shooter. He had emptied the 5 shot snub "in our general direction" not aiming just extended arm pointing. K-9 tracked him and we caught him after the fact.

When I was taking flying lessons, during a solo in the practice area a few weeks away from taking the big checkride, I was practicing power-on stalls (departure stalls) in the Cessna 152 Aerobat trainer @ 2500' AGL. I didn't coordinate the airplane properly before stalling it (I thought it was, but obviously wasn't) and it wallowed into a spin on me. Almost panicked for a split second but didn't and followed training, recovered from the spin, only lost about 800' altitude. I called up approach control and advised them I was back inbound for landing, full stop... that was enough for that day.

TkHHR

First off Cheri, I am so glad you are ok. That was too close, it gives me the shivers. That is the way accidents go though, once it starts, it is out of your hands. Thank God.

Cajun- nuff' said.

Clevelandhhrss

I've had three experiences all while driving.

1. I was driving to a bouldering (rock climbing without rope) spot in WV, on the way there I was driving in the left lane (two lane road) going about 70. It was raining and a little foggy, i slowed to 60ish, I was a little tired (night and late) and my buddy was with me. I looked, and sorta wiped my eyes..thinking i was "seeing things". I thought i saw red (reflector), but there wasnt a car on the road, just a semi riding my ass (WV they drive 80 everywhere on some really hilly roads) ,

I was heading up a steep hill, and dropped the semi by 300ft or so, that red turned out to be a semi parked square in my lane. Not on the shoulder, 90%+ in my lane. No triangles, no flares, no flashers..in the fmild fog at night at the crest of a hill.

I simply turned right on instinct less than 100ft from the metal bar behind that truck, didnt even look to see what was in the left lane or opposing traffic lanes, never had time to touch the brake.

The right before i regained control of my truck, night became day behind me, the semi kicked on every light it had..and vered like I have only seen on tv.

Nothing was said between between my buddy and i during and after for the next hour.

JeffsHHR

My wife and I went to Washington, DC for the July 4th fireworks, 1998 (the exact year is a blur, the details of the accident have been embedded into my brain forever). We were very tired after the fireworks and decided to stay the night at a friends house in Crystal City. The next day, was a beautiful bright clear day, we left Crystal City and drove on Rt66 toward Manassas, VA. Since it was a beautiful day and we were in no hurry, we both decided to take the country roads home (we were living in Charles Town, WV at the time) and sight see. I took the Manassas exit for one of the battle fields. At the exit I saw a Minivan coming towards me, with several other vehicles behind it. I slowed down to let them go ahead of me. the driver and his wife waved and smiled at us....we waved back. We pulled in behind the group and cruised for about 5 miles or so, at the speed limit, none of us in a big hurry. As we topped a small hill, the minivan suddenly stopped, a tire shot up in the air, a big cloud of dust and smoke billowed from minivan. The rest of us slammed on the brakes, but not hitting anyone else. After the smoke and dust had settled, we all got out to see what had happened. When I got up to the minivan, i nearly threw up at what I saw. The minivan had been hit head-on by a convertible. The collision was so severe, the convertable had folded up onto itself, engulfing the driver. The rear of the car stuck straight up in the air. In the minivan there was a man (driving), his wife (front passenger seat) and their young son (in the seat behind the driver, he was in child safety seat). The driver was still alive, but not moving. His wife was dead, her arm hanging out the passenger side window. The were both trapped in their seats by the carnage. The young son was not moving. The minivan then caught fire. Everyone was panicing, running around from car to car trying to find someone with a fire extinguisher, none could be found. None of the doors would open in the minivan. A couple of other drivers smashed the window of the minivan to get the young boy out. They took him to the side of the road and performed life support on him. No one could get to the driver or passenger because of the flames. We could only stand by and watch in horror, hoping the fire department would get their in time. They didn't. As the flames burst into the ****pit of the minivan, we could here the driver moaning. All I could do was stare at it. I couldn't move. All other noise around me had stopped. All I could hear was his moaning. The feeling of complete helplessness overwhelmed me. I stood there and cried like a baby. I'm fighting back tears right now as i recall this nightmare of mine.

Several days later, the accident was in the paper. We learned the driver of the convertable had some emotional problems. I don't recall if alcohol was involved, though I believe it wasn't. He had been driving erratically and had sideswipped several cars before moving over and attempted to pass a line of cars. He almost made it, he was passing the first car in line just as he got to the top of the hill. We also learned the family in the minivan, had two other children. Teenagers who had been with other family members and were not on this trip with their parents. We also learned the young son had died at the scene.

I relive this nightmare frequently. The images have been burned into my memory. I can't help but think....what if I hadn't been so generous and not let them in front of me. Would that have changed how things had turned out.

I do know that God was with me that day. He had graced me with an extra dose of patience that fateful day.

I will tell you this....I never leave home without a fire extinguisher now.

Firewatcher

Well, as a firefighter for 28 year, I guess I was lucky enough that although I was banged up, cut, and bruised numerous times, no near death experiences until September 5th, 2000. The days leading up do this date were stressful. I lost a previous boss to sepsis, and was a pallbearer at his funeral. My wife's dad was in the hospital fighting heart failure, I was involved in live fire training for 2 day straight in hot weather, and then to top it all of, my dad died of cancer. This was all in a 2 week period. For almost 2 weeks I kept feeling "shocks" between my shoulder blades, sometimes going into my neck. I figured it was stress. It slowly got worse over time. I remember being at my dad's funeral with that same feeling in my back, being short of breath, and deciding on stress. On September 5th, I was in the dentist's chair when the sensation moved up my neck and into my jaw and ears. As soon as he was finished I headed to the hospital. I was dizzy and hurting, but kept going. I finally got into the parking lot. I got out of my car, and then it finally came to me: "you are going to die". Yep, I actually crawled on my hands and knees into the entrance before security saw me. The rest was a blur. A doctor pal of mine was working that day in the ER. She couldn't have been more plain: "You firemen are all a$$holes. Don't you know you are having a heart attack?" Yep, ignored the symptoms for days upon days.
I am lucky to live close to UMass Medical Center. They fixed me well enough that I was able to return to work in 3 months. Unfortunately I had another 4 year later along with a small stroke that ended my career. Lessons learned: Know the symptoms, pay attention to them, seek help immediately, don't drive yourself, call 9-1-1. I could have finished the job while I was driving and hurt someone else. The good news is that I am still kicking. I take meds by the boxcar full, take regular naps, don't smoke, and look back at how stupid I was and how near death I had come.

KingWally08

well this is possible near death, but more random act of stupidity. at this place we used to work at, we were having our yearly x-mas party, me and a fellow co-worker had a couple to many. we being young and dumb deside we could make the drive. he was driving (99 grand prix gtp with supercharger mods and others to boot had around 365hp)and someone was turning left so he passed on the shoulder not knowing there was a cop sitting right there. here comes the lights and i told him, hey your getting pulled over. he says "no im not" and floors it, this car went from about 35mph to over 120mph in about around a 1/4 mile if that. he start tearing thru traffic and looses the cops for about 30 seconds, he tells me to get out. so with out missin a beat i got out. the pursuit last about another 15 minutes and he ended it by oversteering a turn at around 100mph and wraped the car around a huge tree dirrectly on the passenger side door. i later on got a call from the police about a month later and had to get statments from me. i found out that the only reason he got caught was because he wrecked. they never got close enough in the entire pursuit to get a plate number. the only time the cops joked about the pursuit with dan was when they told him, damn that cars fast.

Cokeybill

Jeff, that is a horrible experience. I feel for you and all involved at the scene of the carnage. Hopefully, time will give you some relief from the nightmare. Being in a helpless situation like that would bring anyone to their knees.
Good Luck and keep your chin up...

Firewatcher

I had five cousins serve in 'Nam. "nuff said.