Near Death Experiences

[Code 3]

Near death experiences? I can't be certain I would have died but twice in my life I've had a gun pointed at my face, both times within arms length or less.

First was a "road rage" incident (1987) and that was either a .38 or 357 revolver. Guy clipped me while passing over a double yellow, got in front of me and then slammed on his brakes. I got out and went to ask "WTF" - got to his window and heard his female passenger was hysterical... she kept yelling "Frank, Frank, no, no, no!!!" He pulled a gun from underneath his seat and pointed it at my face - somehow I decided he'd have to shoot me in the back, so I took off running. He sped off and I went back to my car and eventually called the police from a payphone a few miles away (no iPhones back then!).

Driver was arrested four days later, got him for a cocaine possession/intent to distribute as well.

Second was in 2017 at a house fire - guy's mother was trapped in 2nd story 1 bedroom apartment with heavy fire on first floor of a divided 4 unit dwelling. I just finished setting up a 24' ladder along with a new firefighter to make entry to her window. Her son thought he could do the job more quickly and started pushing me away from the already grounded ladder. I knocked him on his ass and started climbing, only to feel someone tugging on my coat/airpack - guy yanked me off of the 3rd or 4th rung. After getting on my feet (with a halligan still in hand), he pulled a gun out of his sweatpants, put it in my face and told me to get away. He got on the ladder as I notified command and kept my rookie behind me. Guy made it up about half way and realized he was already winded (big fat slob) just as police already on scene came around and got him down and hauled away without much effort.

I finally made entry through her window but rather than a possible rescue, I still remember calling in "Bravo Charlie 2nd floor search complete, located one deceased, exiting structure."

PD later told me he had a Glock 17, no permit and prior felony conviction. Lost his mother and his freedom in the same afternoon.

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[Alans17]

I’ve got two...

I slid barefoot down a cliff on the California coast. The ground just gave way underneath me when I was near the edge and down I went. I think it was somewhere near Carmel. Caught myself on a ledge before I went into the ocean where waves were crashing hard onto the rocks and there was no way back up.

The second was on vacation on Trunk Bay Beach on St. John. The water was extra rough that day and the shore drops off relatively quickly such that the waves coming in don’t just knock you over. They can smash you against the sand. Anyways, I dove into one wave and it pushed me down into the sand so hard that I busted my shoulder open. I was completely disoriented and at the mercy of the water. Just a few inches difference between a busted shoulder and a broken neck and there was nothing I would have been able to do to stop it.

 

[Mac Attack]

When I was in high school in the late ‘70s, I drove a ’55 M38A1 Willys Mil-surp Jeep. Between my girlfriend’s house and mine was a RR crossing that was pretty steep up and also down the other side. Having been heavily influenced by the old TV series Rat Patrol, which often featured Jeep’s jumping over sand dunes in N Africa (WW2 series) I was determined to “get some air” on these tracks. Each night I hit them a little faster. Finally got a good jump one night. It was wonderful!! That is, until the front bumper dipped and came down hard on the other side. The Jeep bumper hit the pavement first! With no roll bar and no shoulder harness (I had just installed a junk yard rescue seat belt a couple of weeks before) I was very fortunate that the Jeep dropped down onto the wheels rather than flipping over front ways and upside down! Scraped the bottom edge of the bumper badly and bent one of the forward spring mounts. My chest impacted the steering wheel and bent it over, leaving a massive bruise that I hid from my parents for what seemed like weeks.

I learned a lot that night. 17 years old and lucky to see 18 at the time. Just one of several close calls over the years.

Tell me your Near Death Experience......

I have owned 5 jeeps, served in 5 combat/hostile fire zones and had near death experiences 4 times: 3 in Beirut (83-84) and once in Afghanistan. Not one of those near death experiences occured in a jeep. Goes to prove how safe jeeps are.

 

[calipoontappa]

Reason why I have no more wife.

Heading in that direction my friend...lol

 

[SuburbanGP88]

When I was a young lad, my dad bought me a dirtbike and just told me to have it. I barely knew how to ride and did a lot of wheelies (and a lot ended in loops with the bike on top of me) and one time the bike got away from me and I slid down the asphalt on my back. Of course, back in the day motorcycle safety gear consisted of a t-shirt and jeans... my skin shed away and my spine bone was actually exposed in a few places. Yeah, that was no fun.

 

[Blade1668]

I'd be another of the which to start with??? I'd guess for starting I fell off a low head dam at 10-11 years old when I finally got clear of being slammed in to bottom and the dam then free of that I got washed down stream a hundred or so yards and could only grab and hold on to a big rock.
Few years later I fell though ice in winter in crappy cotton coverall and I dragged my young dumb ass out had to light fire strip out of frozen solid clothes thaw them, wring out then walked home few miles. Them brought on by myself.
Some not of my own. My Sqd. lit up by a tank plts 50 cals. (We being light Inf.) Not a good night.. Nosed BFV in trench line throwing track having to dismount and cover while having green tracers and stuff flying around....
Tanker stuck gun tube though M35 truck I was driving as they passed on a tank trail I bailed, it folded the steering wheel over and tube came out of drivers side of windshield.
Doing underwater cavern / cave dive in Croatia dipstick diver behind me got confused decided he was to be in front of me kicks my mask and regulator out then in to bottom instant no vis ect ect.
Being hit with small arms fire then later few different IED's strikes in Iraq Luckily after we finely got up armor Hummers.
Dec 08 3 rnds "sniper fire" missed impacting in wall behind me then I can't get clear shot back. I'm one of the few that was missed in TIkrit Iraq during that time. Just a few of them off the top of my head,
Oh by the way if I'm bumped off of a flight you might want to miss it too.

 

[Klutch]

Not Jeep-related, but when I was in the Navy, I temporarily deployed aboard a battleship with a staff for an exercise in the Caribbean. We were underway near Puerto Rico one day and the ship was doing a live fire exercise with the 16" guns. All three guns on all three turrets were firing. Then something went wrong in Turret 2.

We weren't sure what was going on until a hatch opened on top of the turret and a very badly burned guy climbed out and keeled over dead. Then the turret started burning inside like crazy. The ship went to general quarters.

Since I wasn't part of the crew, I had to stay out of the way on the fantail on the helicopter pad. Since Turret 2 was in front of the superstructure, I couldn't see what was going on. I could see massive plumes of black smoke billowing from the front of the ship and the all manners of harried chaos in front of me as repair parties moved into the turret to fight the fire and quickly had to depart from the white-hot conditions.

A 16" gun turret sits atop a large hole which goes down multiple decks. Inside the hole were thousands of pounds of gun powder and that hole was on fire. Nothing is more heavily-armored than a battleship, but even it would be no match when the gun powder cooked off. I was certain the ship was going to blow in half and we were going down.

Back then part of our General Quarters gear was a "Rubber Ducky" inflatable life vest. It was folded into a pouch and attached to a belt. During GQ, we wore the belt around our waists with the pouch at the rear. To use the life vest, you would have to turn it to the front, remove it from the pouch, put it over your head and inflate it after hitting the water. It was the only time I ever turned my Rubber Ducky to the front.

In my job, I had a tactical display computer with charts. I was trying to remember our position and proximity to Puerto Rico. On the positive side, the water in the Caribbean is very warm, so hypothermia isn't an issue. On the negative side, that warm water has a lot of sharks and I was thinking a bunch of sailors splashing into the water would sure get the attention of sharks. Not fun to think about USS Indianapolis at that time.

Turret 2 burned out of control for over two hours. Then, soon after the repair party would get the flames out, the rocket-hot turret would re-flash and start to burn again. This seemingly went on all day. But the good news was, somehow, the gun powder didn't cook off.

We stayed at a Modified General Quarters over the next couple of days. My work space overlooked turret 2 and I could see the Hospital Corpsmen recovering the remains. It became apparent one of the 16" guns had exploded with the breech open. The guys in direct proximity were likely vaporized. The guys who were down one or a few decks were blown to pieces. Further down, those guys were burned beyond recognition. I didn't see it, but the guys who went into the turret said a few of them, furthest away from the gun, looked fine and appeared to simply be asleep. I guess the concussion had killed them? I don't know.

It all hit home a couple of days later when the staff I was with were asked to leave the ship. The Navy would send helicopters to take us ashore. I got my sea bag and went back to the fantail with a Marine Corps Major I worked with. (That Major was one of the finest officers I ever worked with.) Of course, being a Navy operation, we had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. I lamented all the stress the waiting was causing. To the this the Major said, "We who wait also serve". Well there you go. At this I shut the hell up.

We heard we had to stand by just a bit while some the helicopters would transport remains. I was trying to prepare myself to see bodies in bags when a Corpsman marched over to a helo carrying a bunch of small boxes with "HUMAN REMAINS" stamped on the sides. This scene repeated itself a few times. Then they did bring out some bodies in bags and that scene repeated itself a few times. Finally, they told the Major and me to get on a helicopter; just after they had loaded more small boxes.

In all, forty-seven men died in the turret. Rest In Peace, Shipmates.

I later learned the reason the ship didn't blow in half was because, right after the explosion, a young Petty Officer had opened a valve and flooded the powder magazine with sea water. He saved my life and lives of everyone outside the turret. The Navy gave him a medal. Then Naval Investigative Service came in and blamed him for the explosion. It turned out to be complete nonsense, but they pretty much ruined the guy's life. The Navy later apologized, but geez did that whole situation suck.

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