General Discussion

TipTok

(2,474 posts)

4. Mine was a 7.62 round that plunked into a berm about a foot from my head...

Tue May 17, 2016, 12:32 AM

May 2016

... on a random hill in Logar, Afghanistan.

Spritzed me with the dirt spray and I rolled right the fuck out of there.

One of the defining moments of my life actually. As a military guy, you always wonder how you are going to react and it did my soul a lot of good to know that I didn't freak out.

I actually remember cracking jokes...

Thinking about it earlier today, as I prepare to go again, inspired me for the OP. I chat every day with folks who have killed and been nearly killed a dozen times over.

I was wondering how the other half lives.

Side note... This event was shortly followed by an A-10 BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRtttt and everything went quiet after that. I will love that plane forever.

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Highlight:

What was the closest you've ever come to dying/death....? [View all] TipTok May 2016 OP

Interesting. So what was your event? 7wo7rees May 2016 #1

Mine was a 7.62 round that plunked into a berm about a foot from my head... TipTok May 2016 #4

Thank you for sharing here. Not an easy thing to do, ever. 7wo7rees May 2016 #8

Meh... TipTok May 2016 #9

Just IMHO I believe you may be making light of something. 7wo7rees May 2016 #13

you can learn so many life lessons in combat DustyJoe May 2016 #103

+1 TipTok May 2016 #104

+2 pinboy3niner May 2016 #141

"Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." - Winston Churchill wain May 2016 #127

The Warthog is a wonderous machine. COLGATE4 May 2016 #136

As a teenager and twenty-something, cheapdate May 2016 #2

I'll bet the 50 year event made more of an impact... TipTok May 2016 #5

A bullet missed my head by inches. MADem May 2016 #3

Sounds like a story.... TipTok May 2016 #6

A guy with a rifle on a rooftop during the Iranian revolution started shooting people MADem May 2016 #14

Wow. Mr Maru May 2016 #120

A bullet hit my head by inches. :) pinboy3niner May 2016 #75

I know--you're amazing. MADem May 2016 #78

No shit? Orrex May 2016 #110

Same here. joshcryer May 2016 #117

Sitting in your HOME? MADem May 2016 #118

Yeah, some guy shooting up my downstairs neighbor. joshcryer May 2016 #119

DAMN. I have lived in neighborhoods where "those weren't cars backfiring" but that's CLOSE to home! MADem May 2016 #123

I lived there five years. joshcryer May 2016 #139

Gotta do what works!! nt MADem May 2016 #140

Me too...I remember hearing the bullet whistle past my head. GumboYaYa May 2016 #125

How frightening, but that's quite the souvenir! nt MADem May 2016 #142

I have two. herding cats May 2016 #7

Good luck with rehab... TipTok May 2016 #10

Good luck with your deployment. herding cats May 2016 #15

OMG--how horrific and terrifying (the second one especially, certainly). MADem May 2016 #16

They did catch him. herding cats May 2016 #21

Doesn't sound odd to me at all--I find your fortitude so impressive! MADem May 2016 #22

You'll be notified of the parole hearing. Make it. msanthrope May 2016 #33

Was a passenger in a convertible Beetle that rolled twice down an embankment at freeway speed. Throd May 2016 #61

During one of my chemo treatments I went into anaphylactic shock. Waldorf May 2016 #11

Intruder broke into my home while I was there with my 2 yr old cynannmarie May 2016 #12

You are a very strong and brave person to have survived that and MADem May 2016 #17

what a wonderfully kind thing to say. Thank you. cynannmarie May 2016 #29

Omg. What an ordeal. I am sorry u had that experience Liberal_in_LA May 2016 #20

Jumped out of my sailboat, drunk, forgetting that I can't swim. JayhawkSD May 2016 #18

I've been in some dangerous situations Blue_In_AK May 2016 #19

I fell off a mountain ledge and broke my back. Solly Mack May 2016 #23

I am waiting for biopsy results as I write... Dr. Xavier May 2016 #24

Good luck with the results. You stay strong too, my dear! Squinch May 2016 #93

I'm sure I'm closer right now than I was a minute ago world wide wally May 2016 #25

Cairo, 1985 Hairy Harry Potlover May 2016 #26

SSG John Millet DashOneBravo May 2016 #35

I used to work with a guy, who visited Vietnam in the 90's. Fuddnik May 2016 #138

strangled until I saw stars KT2000 May 2016 #27

A near miss with another aircraft about 20 feet away LastLiberal in PalmSprings May 2016 #28

Twice gwheezie May 2016 #30

Western rattlesnake bite - & fell backward down stairs womanofthehills May 2016 #31

When I was in 5th grade I accidently put my hand through a window. CentralMass May 2016 #32

I had a similar experience with bleeding out Victor_c3 May 2016 #45

I also had a bleeding out experience. I had had Braxton-Hicks contractions Nay May 2016 #56

Drowned when I was a kid, lucky the lifeguard was there. Bled out during childbirth msanthrope May 2016 #34

I also bled out - having a miscarriage womanofthehills May 2016 #116

Two years ago (last day of finals, Spring 2014), while grading skip fox May 2016 #36

Your description of your brief bout of depression resonates with me. Brickbat May 2016 #49

I almost drowned in a swimming pool as a kid Blue_Tires May 2016 #37

Had a massive heart attack almost 4 years ago. Solomon May 2016 #38

I almost drowned in a pool full of people when I was a kid. boston bean May 2016 #39

For me, it was almost driving off the side of a mountain. Adrahil May 2016 #40

A young gentleman shoved a .38 revolver into... meaculpa2011 May 2016 #41

50 years ago when I was 15 I made a gun that exploded when I fired it GliderGuider May 2016 #42

Short answer to your biig question Victor_c3 May 2016 #43

A drunk ran a red at 50-60 mph, and t-boned us. ChairmanAgnostic May 2016 #44

That is a big fat stereotype right there... TipTok May 2016 #58

Huh? What are you talking about? ChairmanAgnostic May 2016 #59

I read it as "that asshole driver is a big, fat embodiment of the stereotype" Orrex May 2016 #62

ah. Thanks. ChairmanAgnostic May 2016 #64

I can understand why you took the remark the wrong way. MADem May 2016 #80

Not you... TipTok May 2016 #67

thanks. ChairmanAgnostic May 2016 #72

I was told--when older--that I almost died from a mnhtnbb May 2016 #46

A head on auto accident. roamer65 May 2016 #47

. Brickbat May 2016 #48

"Catastrophic medical event" TBF May 2016 #50

Sunday April 11, 2004 JustAnotherGen May 2016 #51

Took a big handful of stuff that should have killed me when I was 17. djean111 May 2016 #52

1977 enid602 May 2016 #53

I had been hospitalized when my blood pressure went crazy and decided that I was dying CTyankee May 2016 #54

Almost got hit by a train. AngryAmish May 2016 #55

Going To Visit My Grandparents When I Was A Boy Liberal_Dog May 2016 #57

I almost bled to death when I was 9... Javaman May 2016 #60

Holy shit--I have nothing at all to compare to anything posted in this thread. Orrex May 2016 #63

I took all the tags off my mattresses and pillows jberryhill May 2016 #82

Well, if we're baring our souls... Orrex May 2016 #98

Whoa, dude, that's living on the edge jberryhill May 2016 #108

B.P. 58/36. pnwmom May 2016 #65

I suffer from sleep apnea, so every night might be my last night. Rex May 2016 #66

Have you tried a C-PAP? Works perfectly for my husband. broiles May 2016 #79

CPAP works wonders for me. Act_of_Reparation May 2016 #83

I was attacked Texasgal May 2016 #68

Glad to hear it... TipTok May 2016 #69

He served 5 years Texasgal May 2016 #70

Half a dozen different things .... kwassa May 2016 #71

I've eaten at Chipotle.....Twice! NightWatcher May 2016 #73

LOL @ Chipotle! Those poor folks, I actually like their food! MADem May 2016 #85

A large dredge. We lost all controls and drifted dark into a shipping channel NightWatcher May 2016 #96

Oh my-that must have been nerve-wracking as hell. nt MADem May 2016 #97

I faceplanted down a staircase at a Muni station in SF a couple of years ago KamaAina May 2016 #74

In surgery and the docs were grabbing for the paddles 5 times, each time my heart would LiberalArkie May 2016 #76

After 11 (yes eleven) car accidents Faux pas May 2016 #77

Few times nadinbrzezinski May 2016 #81

Surfing. Atman May 2016 #84

Body surfing, similar result. kwassa May 2016 #88

motorcycle accident handmade34 May 2016 #86

A stockroom shelf over-loaded with paint buckets collapsed while I was at work. Act_of_Reparation May 2016 #87

This one hits me. My dad worked for American Axle and a rack of axles fell over, missing him by ScreamingMeemie May 2016 #111

Crashed a Cessna in a field. callous taoboy May 2016 #89

When I was 4 or 5 I fell out of a car while driving on a highway lunatica May 2016 #90

Ectopic pregnancy back in the 80's... Contrary1 May 2016 #91

I have 4 of them: 1 anaphalactic shock and 3 gun incidents when I worked in the Squinch May 2016 #92

As far as effects go... pinboy3niner May 2016 #94

Nearly rappelled off the end of my rope 2000 feet up on the Matterhorn. kairos12 May 2016 #95

There have been a few times in my life - Mother Of Four May 2016 #99

Had a personal experience with William Bonin, AKA "The Freeway Killer" and sidekick Vernon Butts. cherokeeprogressive May 2016 #100

One time I was driving north and an ambulance was going west about 60-70 miles per hour Tony_FLADEM May 2016 #101

What is the closest you have ever come to feeling alive? L. Coyote May 2016 #102

I was drunk, he was drunk auntpurl May 2016 #105

Going in for my 50,000 mile check (three years late...) Thor_MN May 2016 #106

In the back seat of an Opel GT sliding sideways toward a bridge pylon at 70 MPH. Maedhros May 2016 #107

After an angioplasty... GaYellowDawg May 2016 #109

Steel bar fell out the back of a truck in front of me on the highway. Xithras May 2016 #112

I was 17 cagefreesoylentgreen May 2016 #113

Two times actually dead. ladyVet May 2016 #114

I've thought about that one for a bit now... bhikkhu May 2016 #115

Just bleed out internally... raptor_rider May 2016 #121

When I was a stupid young person, DawgHouse May 2016 #122

pneumonia DiverDave May 2016 #124

peritonitus CountAllVotes May 2016 #126

I was 15 Thirties Child May 2016 #128

Jumping from one rocky ledge to another TlalocW May 2016 #129

A couple of times.... Avalux May 2016 #130

Had my 2nd heart attack in 2011 justamama83 May 2016 #131

Watched heart monitor flat line wain May 2016 #132

Electrocuted twice. JonathanRackham May 2016 #133

Well... Scootaloo May 2016 #134

Helicopter crashed on the landing pad and the helicopter blade went through my open peacoat. Katashi_itto May 2016 #135

Which time? Fuddnik May 2016 #137