First off, nothing I've ever experienced comes close to some of you, being in war time combat.

A few of mine.

Nearly sliding off a couple of nasty iced over roadways into big canyons in Idaho in a truck and trailer.

An avalanche on Kodiak Island that was too close for comfort.

Nearly flipping a backhoe on top of myself.
Wasnt a good day.

Nearly flipping a Razor side by side down a near vertical, snow covered mountain, I literally screamed like a 12 year old girl.

Being centerpunched in Chevy by a drunk driver at 60 miles per hour, sliding down the highway upside down with all the windows broken out of my truck.

Being swept down stream in a raging river that my buddy thought he could cross in his Taco dog box truck while bear hunting one year.
Crazy story.

The worst ever was nearly drowning while Salmon fishing on a favorite river.
I was wearing felt bottomed wading boots and was finishing a day of incredible Salmon fishing.
Crossed the river in the wrong spot and fell into a hole, being swept downstream in the strong current.
I had exhaled my last breath of air and all I could see was the sparkles of sunlight above me as the current swept me down stream.
Ii truly believed I was dying that day.
Fortunately the current pushed me into a Boulder that I was able to push off of and get a gasp of air and get into shallower water.
That was a close one.

I ate a McRib once...

Coupla times out in the Gulf fishing, and a
storm comes out of nowhere.
No rigs or shore in sight anywhere
Bought an expensive PFD with lots of reflective
patches, and a pocket for a Firefly after that.
Also bought a Firefly to go in the pocket

My wedding day. 56 years ago!!

one bad car wreck, many years ago. One bad day way out in the Gulf of Mexico in a small boat. Other than just a few times, I have been lucky.

Oh yeah, and the heart attack 12 years ago. That was scary.

Had one similar to this. Fishing with a buddy and we both came out from under a bridge in thigh-deep water and he was looking my direction when he said it looked like I walked off a cliff and vanished. I don’t know how deep that hole was but I never hit bottom. I had on newer breathable waders with felt shoes. The important thing was the cinch at the top kept them from filling with water. In my old rubber ones I would have had to got them off somehow or they would have anchored me.

Managed to save my St Croix in the process! 😊

When I was in 8th grade I unhooked a single axle trailer that had the weight too far back and the hitch sprang up and hit me in the forehead. Knocked me out but only ended up with 7 stitches. Can only thank the good Lord that one wasn’t worse. 🤷🏼‍♂️

You all know my story so I will save the pictures and details. The funny thing is it changed my life to the point if I could go back and undo my accident I don't know if I would

Kat you got 3 More Lives ..

Use them Wisely.

Of Course that’s just a Rumor ..


Me just your run of the Mill Cub Crash..

Choked on a biscuit.

Blood clots that went to my lungs.

kwg

I'm thinking that I've used up eight of my nine lives...
One was getting electrocuted by a metal garage door. Bare foot and standing on concrete, the bottom of the door cut into an extension cord that was plugged in. Couldn't let go with my right hand, nothing around to break the grip. Made a fist with my left hand, smacked my right wrist as hard as I could. Damn that hurt...

Been a few hairy moments but only one when I genuinely thought it was over with no chance. I was shearing around Hillston for Ted Kenny in my twenties and taking quinine for muscular cramps in the hot months, I ended up laying on my bed at the local hotel where I was camped as what felt like a great big steel band constricted my chest and pretty much stopped everything...as I drifted off I pretty much accepted and made my peace.

Bugger me if I didn't wake up right as rain the next morning...threw the damned quinine away and went to work.

I had a blood workup the last time I was in the hospice and they kept coming in and asking if I had ever had a heart attack, they only stopped the tests and left me alone after I explained the bout in Hillston.

That was almost forty years ago.

My son was learning to drive and I was a passenger. He was coming up on a red light at a moderately busy intersection. I kept saying, "It's red." "IT'S RED." "IT'S RED! STOP!" He drove right through it.

No one's been in fear for their life when cornered by a fat, horny , half naked, drunk chick yet ? .....
if so or name must not have been Hillary soon to be Clinton..

I was working on a salvage job a hundred miles south of Barrow Alaska, I was trying to jump from a Zodiac onto the deck of a grounded barge in a sea condition of a brisk chop and mixed swells, made the jump, a little late...but landed on the listing barge deck, was knocked off my feet by the next swell and was washed flailing like a turtle toward the edge. Going over would have been the farm, wearing long johns, work clothes, Carhartts and rain gear even with a work vest life jacket, I wouldn't have lasted in the drink. Washing back to the edge, my raingear snagged and held on a little piece of steel called a deck clip. The next wave was a big one and washed me well up onto the deck where my boss grabbed onto me. Pretty damn close to a late term abortion. Hats off to Helly Hansen quality.

Things go bad quickly in firefighting, so worrying about what might happen isn't a factor.
It's during the ride back to the station that you think about what almost happened, and then you get the shakes.

seriously though , short story version , got flushed through a culvert once in flood waters ,that was a bit spooky.

I've had a number of really close calls, with all but a few happening in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I fell into a creek and was swept 20-30 yards down stream in 27 degree weather. I've had a few strays bullets and birdshot fly closer than I cared for.

Handful of boat rides I got worried.

Had a treestand step shear off way up in a tree

A bunch of times Harry.

I had a couple in the Navy and a close call working at Electric boat after I got out.
But this was the closest I think.

Mostly highway experiences and a DaNang rocket landing between the shoulder blades of a plane I was servicing.

Yeah, not any kind of service stuff and getting shot at. That’s next level I can’t speak to and wouldn’t want to.

I was in a 16’ foot Lund on Rangely with two other pretty hefty males, doing an early spring salmon troll. Just behind ice-out, water was like 43 degrees. We k ew big winds were coming late morning, but had to go out and try to beat them and get some fishing in. Three day rental of property. So we did. Waves stacked up on us really fast from across the lake. It was way too much for that little boat, capable as it was. We were head to toe in rubber rain gear, and hunting boots. Woulda sank like stones. And two of us are really strong swimmers. Not was taking water over the bow and stern heading into the waves. Not [bleep] when I say 3 foot waves, on a stupid little lake. I was in bow seat. I’ve never looked for a life-jacket before in my life, and realized there was no point to even put one one. I was looking at shore and guesstimating if I could make it there before I went hypothermic, IF, I could [bleep] off before I sank like a stone.


No way I would have.

There was one other big boat on the lake at that time. It was far away hiding in a deep cove that we were at the mouth of, before we started trying to sprint back to camp. Full-sized fiberglass hull boat. We eventually lost sight of them.

Anyway, I was on a lake forum some matter of weeks later relating this same experience, and a poster chimes in that they were this boat, and they were watching us, and preparing to run to help. Expecting they would have to.

Comforting in a way, but no excuse for our arrogance and idiocy.

As an ‘adult’ I’ve never feared more for my life as I did at that time. That sticks out in my mind.

Ironically, F&G fished out the bodies of a couple snowmobilers who went though in the lake in early winter. Ice had prevented their search and retrieval.

Was limbing a big fir tree and climbed up the limbs as far as I could get,

And was knocking off limbs as I started down.

Stepped on a branch near the top, about 80-90 feet up, and it snapped.

I swung my left arm around the tree and started giggling like a little girl.

It didn't take me long to get out of that tree!

Bought spurs and a climbing belt before I went back up a tree.

Virgil B.

Flunking a stress test.

Rolled a tractor 12 years ago and got squished between it and a tree,broke 4 ribs off my spine,cracked 3 in the front and punctured a lung and my liver.You do see stars! Could feel stuff cracking on the way over and remember thinking this was it. First thing I did was spit-happily no blood. Was laid up for a couple months.Nearly died from covid,laid up 7 months.

Ya, my RN leaning over and telling my "Al, you're going to the OR as soon as we can get you there. The surgical team is waiting for you." And then the cardiologist who was going to be doing the bypasses walks into the room, grabs my gurney and wheels me to the elevator and then into the OR.

A few close calls in the inner-city. Never while out in nature.

Bit in the throat and face by neighbors 90lb German Shephard when I was 7. No one there to intervene or help, only one home was their 7 yr old son who observed from inside their house. I had to get outside the radius of its leash, and was near its anchor point when it first bit me, guessing 15 or 20 feet radius. Adrenalin kicks in and memory shuts off. Somehow I got away and made it to our back door. Two hours of stitching, 65 total, ripped through check in three places across Adams apple and just missed jugular vein and eyeball. At least it didn't have rabies. It had bitten at least a few other kids but nothing as serious. This time it was put down.

A couple of times offshore.

More than a few times. Rio7

The Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, aka Last Rites, at birth, but I wasn’t too worried at the time.




P

I flipped a swingset when I was about 7 years old. Couldn’t breeve for about 10 seconds. Knocked the wind outta me

Life flashed before me. How would Sparrows baseball little league team make it with out me , my Huffy bike gettin stolen, my blue tick hounds, I could see myself in the pistol smoke

All good after a few seconds. Mama fixed me some spaghetti O’s and my frozen kool aid toothpick pops were finally good to go.

Seeing the pointy end of a 1,000 mph surface-to-air missile from a 150 mph Cessna.

(We had two "evasive" maneuvers: You could count to 10 or wind your watch. If you finished either one - it missed.)

Couple of times in aircraft..
Like an idiot I turned up a box canyon on the Big Island of Hawaii in a T-28. Too narrow to turn around or do a wingover and not enough speed to perform a loop. Climbing at max angle of climb airspeed, I made it with about a wingspan of clearance at the far end. Close!

Another time in an F-4 when one of the nose tires blew up in the wheel well at 30,000’ while waiting for my wingman to join up after launch off the Midway. The explosion blasted the top of the wheel well into the controls right below my feet. With the controls jammed, we diverted to MCAS Iwakuni. By doing a control check we found reasonable control at 190 knots or so. At the time Iwakuni was single runway with arresting gear in the landing area, at midfield and at the far end. Perfect.

Of course the weather was pretty crummy at Iwakuni but we broke out OK. Shortly after, the nose pitched up to 30 degrees nose up and 30 units AOA so essentially we were stalled but I was able to control the angle of bank with rudders. It took both hands but I was able to free the controls and we hit the runway pretty hard.

At 190 knots we were too fast for the short field gear so on touchdown I put the drag chute out but waited to drop the hook until we crossed the wire. We caught the mid-field gear and stopped OK. Holy $hit! Holy $hit! Holy $hit! Made it. 😳

While we were waiting for the crash crew to get to us, my knees starting shaking uncontrollably. When they arrived I shut it down and climbed out and could barely stand up. I didn’t kiss the runway but I did kneel down and pat the runway with my hand. 😁 The crash crew guys just smiled.

We were in Base Ops waiting for a ride and the CO of the base, a Bird Colonel walked over to speak to us. He had been circling by the tower in a C-117(?) waiting for us to land. He asked if we were flying the F-4 and I answered “yessir that was us.” He said “well, that was a pretty spectacular show on final and he thought we were about to shell out.”

I told him that if the wing had dropped I would have been pulling the handle. My new RIO looked over at me and asked, “is that right?” That was when I realized how alone I really was that afternoon. 😳😁

I think there's more than a few must have been pretty sure they weren't going to make it as many covid shots as they got...

Nearly died after “routine” surgery 3 years ago. Doped up in the hospital. Had no clue gravity of my situation.

A couple weeks after I got home and started thinking clearly, reminded my family of the agreement: max 10 days on life support. Then pull plug.

Oldest daughter looks over at me…

“Dad, we had that conversation…”

Sleep apnea almost got me one night.

Me first marriage, never thought I would make it outa there alive, by the skin of me wallet, I did.

Just returned from the load bench and was juggling bullets. Caught a 500 grain .45 in my teeth.

In the early 70's sailing in a Lake Huron Mackinaw Race on a 37' custom boat we ran into a reef the boat sinking in seconds the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife....unable to even give a Mayday on the radio the boat sunk and it was dark we were able to get the raft inflated and on it....we spent 10 hours in the raft before a other boat racing was able to find us....luckly the fog cleared and we were able to shoot aerial flares....
Back then all you had for navigation was a compass, sextant and a RDF...the compass got broken at the start of the race I had a pocket compass that we were using.....sextant could not be used because of the fog and back then in the 70's RDF you needed to pick up minimum 2 stations and plot on a map not very accurate like now a GPS....

I was a passenger in a ski boat that flipped at high speed. Violently threw us all into the water and the boat hit me on the head nearly knocking me out. I was under water, loopy, not knowing which way was up. I started to swim (probably sideways) and after what seemed like forever I finally found the surface, bleeding from the ear. Had headaches for months after that.

Can't say worried exactly, tho the thought that the probability was fairly high both times was there. It was " whatever"... how do I get out of this, if I can?

Adrenalin kicked in on the pinned-by -the-lift handle as the 18' boat was going under, pinned sideways between 12' span trestle supports. I got out, boat got out, dumping all my gear, except the tied-in rifle. Lab retrieved lunch, took it to the bank and ate it. He knew a survival situation when he saw one.

I had badly misjudged the force of the current on the 90* bend just above the trestle, and didn't make the backwater, from which I'd planned to line the boat through the trestle. "Next time" I'll use the opposite shore to line the boat through .

The 1" heavy-wall pipe lift-handle pinning me in was slightly bent- just enough for me to get free. Ain't adrenaline wonderful?

The sow griz at 3 steps was my own stupidity, and I was just resigned. Adrenaline never did kick in - even after. I just knew I was going to get nailed..... but didn't. Good bear!

Thrice in a car, twice on a bike, twice in a helicopter, and once on skis.

Hoping that 8 is my limit.

You can take that both ways.

January 2, 2020. I was driving up a two lane to go to the range for a final check on one of the rifles I was taking on an elk hunt starting two days later. I got behind a slow moving dump truck and when a chance to pass came up started into the pass. As I swung out, pedal to the floor that idiot in the dump truck turned left right in front of me. After the obligatory, " Oh s h i t!" I'm watching my truck crumple up toward me in very slow motion. At the same time I'm thinking I'm dead, the seat belt is trying to keep me from bouncing off the steering wheel. It failed slightly and I took a hit. Four days in hospital with my sternum cracked in several places. When I consider where the pain was greatest, I've always believed that the heart attack I suffered almost a year to the day after the accident on the blow I got on my chest.
I figure I used up every one of my 9 lives in that one wreck and while I wasn't too happy that the 2015 Ford I was driving had been made from beer cans, I have to say the way it crumpled was important toward me staying above ground. The truck was totaled but I lived. I've been looking at things a lot difference since then. Hell of a way to get a wake up call.
PJ

This right here! ^^^^^. If you lose your wind within a short time period, get checked with a CT machine.

That’s gut wrenching just reading it.

Had all kinds of tuff guy "scary" moments but about 13 months ago, I had my surgeon tell me to get my affairs in order before surgery.

About 20 years ago I rolled a truck over into a ditch while driving too fast in a snowstorm. I broke my collarbone and had a few cuts from broken glass but wasn’t otherwise injured. It definitely made me pucker up. I remember exactly what the impact sounded like as it rolled and the airbags deployed.

I have a few and I'm currently recovering from the latest.

I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital this year with a blood clot that ran from my right ankle up to next to my heart. Clots in both lungs as well.

This also happened exactly 10 years ago, only the clots then were bigger in my lungs and the clot in my leg stopped at my upper thigh.

They have since made a new device for removing clots in your veins. They roto rooted from behind my calf up to my heart with it and now I'm just letting the blood thinner do it's thing with the rest.

Pisses me off. I should be muzzleloading right now!

A couple of times running rivers. A couple of times on icy highways.

I worked on oil and gas platforms 40 years. Had a big fire in 85 that was scary. Several times pipes failed from sand cutting that covered us in a cloud of gas that fortunately didn't light up. Couple of times had maintenance problems in Helicopters that scared the pilots and us.

Need flash. You’re going to die. Don’t be afraid….unless you’re going to hell.

I was fourteen years old at the time, the only other person home was my twelve year old sister. She heard me screaming, came running out of the house. I yelled at her do not touch me. It was really weird to feel my whole body vibrating, I couldn't let go of the garage door handle no matter how hard I tried.

Nothing more than weighing the "odds" of THE moment in cars,trucks,sand rails,motorcycles,ATV's,boats,airplanes,helicopters and Mother Nature. Sometimes such things meld to diminish "odds",other times schit simply happens. Hint.

I've packed too many casualties and corpses. If/when schit goes South,I WANT me there and on my side. Hint..............

Slid down an oily metal roof on a building & a rotten fiberglass skylight swallowed me up. Hanging from a the roof edge by 4 fingers.

I'll never forget hanging there & seeing those 3 machine operators, one running to get & move an overhead crane under me, another getting a lift truck & pallet, & the 3rd running to the front of the building to kill the power to the crane once in place as it had the 480 volt buss bars on it.
All easy after that. Just drop 5 or 6 feet to the oily 10" wide rail of the crane, a breath & then jump to the pallet on the lift that wouldn't reach the crane.

Driving on a two lane highway elevated on a "dump" with no shoulder that went into the water on both sides. Car speeds past me weaving back and forth between lanes and hits a dump truck coming the other way. Dump truck loses control and starts coming across the line toward me. My mind starts decision making as whether to get hit by the dump truck or go down the slope into the water. I start steering to the right to go into the water about time the dump truck hits me in front of the driver's side door. At that point I was pretty sure I was going to die.

The impact spins me around and the car ends up with the back half in the water. I unbuckle, climb out of the broken window and crawl up the slope back to the highway. I had some glass in my hand but not bad. Car that caused it all is stopped in the middle of a bridge a hundred yards down. I look and see the dump truck about forty yards from the highway in the water with the cab underwater and the back sticking out of the water. Two fishermen were close and pulled the driver out and brought him to land. He was wet so I gave him my jacket (which I got back at the hospital).

Guy that caused it was on something but the trooper didn't test him. Driver said he had just got off his shift and was tired but my BS meter was going off.

My car was totaled but I went on to work that day and had someone bring me home.

Last I counted,I had (23) pards that died via rotary wing. The number is greater than that and such things rate an extra chapter in The Book. Hint.

Hiller(s) both piston and turbine,500's in multiple configurations,107's,234's,UH-1's,S-61's,S-64's and the like(K-Max POS). Hint.

Some vocations are unforgiving. Hint...............

^^^^ This!...

Back when i was much younger, i spent some time around the wrong crowd of folks. Had a buddy that i was walking with, owed a fella money. The guy wasnt a good dude and not the person you would want to be involved with. He chased me and my buddy down. I had no clue what was going on. He pulled a gun and hit my buddy with it. He walked up to me and pointed it at my head and just stared. Obviously he didnt shoot us, but i sure as chit thought he was going to. Not long after that the crazy dude killed his own brother and went on the run and killed a few more people. He got caught and got the death penalty. Scary to think back

Kudos on stealing pics and "doing" THE least. Hint.............

I quit riding motorcycles, both incidents happened on a fast but poor handling Kawasaki KH750H2. I'm too old to be ski racing and I've never been in a civilian helicopter, so cars and trucks are my only areas of risk these days.

8 is my limit was intended to convey my sincere hope that I don't have any more near misses, but I'm equally hopeful that if I do have any more near misses that they will continue to be misses and not a final fatal incident.

Not sure what is meant by "stealing pics", but I did stick the landing after gaining about 20ft of elevation and doing 3 rotations in the air.

Unarmed while charged by a sow brown bear with an adolescent cub. I was throwing dirt clods as she got close and they veered off at 20 feet and went past me and my partner. It was a come to Jesus moment. Too many to count cutting timber on bad ground and big timber over 25 years.

The boys ALWAYS rejoiced,when I arrived Camp. Hint.

The trees never had a "chance" either. Hint.

Never killed a Bear,closer than with my axe. Hint...............

I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older I have fewer pucker moments of my own doing.

I’ve been lucky. A few near misses in vehicles and on ATV’s (again, of my own doing). Once, when I was 21 on spring break I got caught in a riptide and was at the point of not giving myself good odds (I remember clearly thinking “your gonna have to swim or you’re gonna f****** drown!”)About had my lunch ate by a pissed off bovine or three.

Been pretty sheltered and lucky I suppose. Especially compared to those in combat or otherwise dangerous occupations.

In a trench collapse with two other guys. I was the only one they got out in time.

SCUBA diving on a wreck at 125 feet when my regulator hose caught on something, causing water to get in my mouth just as I was inhaling. Went into an uncontrollable coughing fit with my regulator in my mouth and almost blacked out. After about a minute, finally got control back. Not fun.

Now.

None this week.

Therre was the time I hammered on 22 shell till it went off.

This one time on the internet....

Was riding on top of a big disc harrow when I was a kid--just having fun. I got slapped in the face by a limb from a tree growing alongside the creek and stupidly put my foot down to steady myself--got dragged down under the disc harrow. I was holding on and screaming bloody murder for my grandfather to stop the tractor.

He stopped.

If he hadn't I'd be dead.

I don't like to recall it.

Drunk driver hit us head on at 85 mph impact speed. We had air bags, she didn’t and she died.

My wife had a concussion and I had pieces of car stick in my legs.

The first 10 seconds after coming to were rough.

Yep. Hint.

Killed my buddy that was driving. I made it. Hint.

(5) guys were changing roads,for an obvious fresh start and short yard in the morning. I heard the whistles(was cutting a unit not too far away) and then...nothing. Hint.

They were unknowingly siwashed and when the lines cleared,they paid that price. Hint.

Rough overtime,when looking for your pards,with a flashlight in your teeth,tracing their last steps. Hint...............

My Honda 420 Rancher 4 wheeler tried to kill me in 2014. It flipped over top of me on a steep hill and whacked me in the left side of my head. It cut that side of my nose half way off, cut an artery in my temple, and busted my eye socket. The Docs said another couple inches and it would have popped my noggin like a pumpkin, and they couldn't believe it didn't knock me out. I had to get an artificial left eye socket installed so my eyes could function together. I didn't even now if I had a left eye intact for a couple days. I got a helicopter ride out of it!

Around 2008, coming back from NY State right after New Year detoured through WV for different scenery. Headed south from Morgantown at dark on the superslab towards Jamestown, partly cloudy, no snow forecast. Then wife and two dogs in the car.

Shortly after ran into whiteout blizzard conditions in the mountains driving a Saturn SW2 wagon. Popcorn size flakes, highway and lane markers covered with snow, couldn’t stop woulda got hit from behind, rolling blind driving by best guess.

Semi passes up above us to the right, near as I could tell we were driving in snow on the median in winding, hilly terrain, coulda hit a fence or culvert any moment. That got my attention.

I inched over to the right, semi in back let us in, I followed barely visible taillights of first semi, all of us doing about 20.

Everybody got off at next exit (Flat Creek? Near a prison), parked in a big parking lot surrounded by others. Slept in the car, woke up in a snow cave, every window completely covered in like 4” of snow. 9 degrees F.

That fleeting moment as I was being born. Was a tight fit.

Back in the early 80s I was working at the Denver Zoo. I was always feuding with one particular spider monkey because he didn't like how I ran a 1700cc Yamaha with a 12 foot bar. I could cut down six pine trees at once and liked to saw while smoking a giant meerschaum pipe in the shape of a 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge. One night, the monkey escaped his paddock and let out two lions, three brown bears, a Bengal tiger, and three flamingos all at once. The monkey sent them after me. I killed both lions with the chainsaw then switched over to the ax I always wore on my back in case of emergencies. Hacked up the bears and the tiger and little did I know the flamingos were what I really had to worry about. They came at me like demon spawn with the wrath of hell in their eyes. Normally I would have just shot them but that very morning I threw my last 4 bolt guns in the creek to teach everyone on this forum a lesson about obsolete cartridges. (This was before Stick had taken the torch of enlightening all of you about which cartridges stopped killing deer as of 2001.) The only other rifle I had was a 30-30 and I knew at more than 2 yards it would just bounce off the birds so I didn't even try it. That's when I remembered my backup chainsaw. It was a 1200cc Suzuki with laser sights on a 4 foot bar that my brother's uncle's cousin's barber's former roommate worked on back when we were coal miners. I warned the flamingos not to try it... that I had the high ground and killing me now would only be imagination and pretend but they came on anyway and I gave them the old narrow kerf salami whizzenchopper. When my pards at the zoo saw the carcasses they ratted me out to the zookeeper and I got fired. But I already had another job lined up cutting down redwoods in Sequoia. So I guess you could say I almost died about 347 times.

I've answered different than some from some of the responses I can agree I've had many times that I probably should not have made it but I did not have time to think about it before it happened and when it happened the only time I was in peril that I had time to think I mentioned earlier being flushed through a covert and flood conditions. the other times happened so fast you really didn't have time to think about it until afterwards..

Was white water rafting and the raft flipped in a class 4 rapid. Had on a PFD but got caught in a hydraulic. I’m a strong swimmer but was just about out of air and seeing stars when I finally popped out.

I was an EMT back in my 20’s at a mining operation I saw a few who didn’t. One of the electricians got ahold of a 4160 line. He was dead before he hit the ground. We performed CPR until airmed arrived and called it. Another time, a contractor was up on a ladder and fell off. He was two stories up and landed on his head. His skull was cracked open like a hard-boiled egg tho. He died in us four times before he got to the hospital, but he made it.

The last one was on a dam construction project. We had a third-party laboratory testing compaction with a nuclear density gauge. Stupid ass tech decided it would be a good idea to take that apart and then put the Caesium 137 emitter in his pocket for the ride home. It ‘burned’ a hole through him and he died two weeks later from the radiation.

Had to fight my way out of a couple prison disturbances. It’s surprising how well one can fight with the proper motivation.

On three occasions I faced off with grizzlies. All three times I was sure it was going down. I had picked the spot where I wanted the bullet to land and was ready to take the shot. In all three instances we resolved our differences amicably and went our separate ways.

Came up the Susitna river from the Deshka at night when the Su was at flood stage. It had dumped a ton of rain upriver somewhere and the Su was running 4-5 feet higher than normal. Three foot cottonwoods bobbing down the river like corks. Those lights of Deshka landing were a truly beautiful sight.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ll have the strength to make it through my current challenge. Caring for my wife as her mind slips deeper into the fog of dementia. I thought I was a tough guy. Now I know I’m not. We just take every day as it comes. It certainly isn’t the retirement we imagined.

14 years old ice fishing and the ice gave way, I couldn’t get out after struggling for a long time I made a decision that I knew would be a one way trip and I swam under water for probably 10 yards to the bank and forced the ice up at the bank with my head to get out. I felt like I was cold for weeks. 21 years old I was thrown from a boat that inexplicably started turning circles, the prop cut across my back and gave me scars that you would see on a manatee .The next time the boat came around the prop got tangled in my shirt and stalled I was 18' below the surface entangled and eventually pulled myself out. I generally stay away from water now.

Covid had me in October of 2020. Had multiple times where I thought I would not live to see the sunrise. 3 of us survived having a trach and being on a ventilator. Wife and I FaceTimed our goodbyes to each other on a borrowed cell phone. Came off the ventilator with a stage 4 sacral wound you could put your fist in, Covid toes and heel on the left foot. Could not move my body; totally dependent upon others for my well being and care. Had over 10 surgeries, including an emergency abdominal surgery. Had grape size mucus blockages on 2 different occasions and the breathing treatment techs were finally able to suction up so I could breathe. Had a Foley catheter for 7.5 months, a colostomy bag, and finally my left leg amputated below the knee when it went septic. Had pneumonia 8-10 X and once had fluid drawn off R lung with Cajun injector size needle; enuff to fill up a big size IV bag. The one I remember the most is when my Abuterol conflicted with my heart meds and I began to have a heart attack. They called for an ambulance and it was an hour out. The hospital was 75yds from the nursing home and would not admit me unless I arrived by ambulance. My doctor told the staff to put me in wheelchair and roll me to the ER. I asked if could be transported by my son in his personal vehicle and was told no. I liked to have died in my nursing home hospital bed 75 yards from a hospital ER on a Sunday night! Nitro pills and other meds finally kicked in. I had bypass at age 27 and have had heart attacks and 2 strokes since. I’m now 74, at home after 14 months in hospitals and nursing home, been here almost 3 years. I can drive and walk with a walker or cane but still have 2 home health nurses weekly. My wife does my wound care and helps with my tub bath. Not allowed to shower. I do all the cooking from a wheelchair and chauffeur the missus about. Dying is easy; living is hard. I ve had 2 out of body experiences. I’m not afraid to die. You have a soul that will live forever somewhere and you have a choice as to where. The only thing important in this world is the memories you made with your loved ones and your relationship with a Holy God. And the only way to have that relationship is to believe in His Son and the sacrifice he made for us. You too can conquer death as Jesus did. Take care of your spiritual health and that of your family. This life is fragile and like a vapor.

Never.
(but don't get out much)

Too many to list.

Only came close to death once and had no time to worry about it. Car I was riding in skidded on a curve on wet pavement and hit a pickup almost head-on. Dead center of the car I was riding in hit the front left corner of the truck causing both vehicles to go into a spin. That spin took all of the energy or there would probably have been 5 of us combined in body bags.

No one in either vehicle were wearing seatbelts (wreck was 40 years ago when no one wore them) and I probably got the worst of it. My face went through the windshield cutting my face up pretty bad. But when the car started spinning was thrown back into the seat.

Early 1970's aboard a 50 ft trawler hull( 12 knot cruising speed) research vessel after completing a southern Lake Michigan October survey. We were tied up in Milwaukee near the mouth of the Milwaukee River. There wasn't easy access to either a bar or liquor store, the chief scientist was fresh out of liquid refreshment, and desired to head home.

Mid afternoon weather report indicated some weather was coming but the skipper thought we could make it east across Lake Michigan to home port in Grand Haven before the front moved in. So off we went. Just over 80 miles IIRC

At about the point of no return the wind started to pick up out of the west.. The skipper had us check portholes and exterior watertight doors to make sure all were dogged tight...and instructed us to stay inside the cabin/wheelhouse. Not much longer and we were running before 15 ft waves with the wind whistling through the rigging. Pitch black out. When the stern lifted the propeller would come out of the water and the GM 871 would race. The skipper steered and the mate throttled the engine back as we went over the crest of the wave. After 40 miles of the worst weather I've experienced on the Great Lakes at reduced speed the Grand Haven piers were a welcome sight. Keeping her in the middle of the harbor entrance with 15 ft seas at night had a high pucker factor, not to mention the run across the east half of Lake Michigan.

Have choked, bad.

Also a couple asthma attacks.
Woke up in the middle the first bad one. Home alone, made it to the corner of the living room trying for a phone. Gave up on that when I realized that it would be done before help got here. Remembered the inhaler I had for reactive airways, figured it couldn't hurt. Having your airways clamped shut kinda socks.


In a semi, lots of exciting seconds, had a few that went on for long enough to get damn good and scared while it was still unfolding.

One day in North Dakota, hit black ice. A couple minutes of sliding, slipping, trailer
on the shoulder or the other lane. Had to keep the clutch in and freewheel, the drives
would lock up just from being engaged. Lucky for us it was straight, flat, and not windy!

Most of mine have been over before there was time to consider the danger.

Been a few times in the last 7 years. Have reached stage 4 cancer twice (2016 and then again 2020 2 different types of lymphoma). Large blood clot in right arm almost got me in 2017. Am in the hospital now after an issue with a heavily bleeding varice in my stomach. When I got to the ER about noon Friday,, bp was 80/40, and I vomited enough blood to cover a 4 foot circle on the floor. Docs found the bleed and closed it Friday night. Now on antibiotic drip and waiting to learn if i need a stint put in. I am still kicking though so all is good. God has taken good care me as always.

Outside of a few incidents in the Middle East, I can’t say that I have ever really thought the end had come. I’ve had some heart pounding adventures…but I have always been a cautious player and thus far, have always been confident in the moment that I’d come out ok.

Some backcountry horseback rodeos. One pretty serious false charge by a grizzly. Some intense and scary lightning storms and I've fallen through ice a few times in shallow areas. None of those instances ever saw me really thinking I was a goner. I have never been in a vehicle wreck and only minor 4 wheeler/snowmachine wrecks. I have always been super cautious when wading or rafting.

Maybe I am just more of a pus than others. I dunno…

Falling off of a 200-foot cliff.

On the way down I remember thinking that I would be a quadriplegic at the minimum. When I hit the bottom, it felt like I landed on a feather pillow. Not even a scratch.

I know for sure that Angels exist!

I rode old 149 cow, her idea, not mine. I thankful for no horns.

"... Being centerpunched in Chevy by a drunk driver at 60 miles per hour, sliding down the highway upside down with all the windows broken out of my truck. ..."

On the way home from work, the right headlight of the car I was meeting suddenly dropped and the car disappeared. December 1991. About 7pm. Pitch black outside.

Out of nowhere, the vehicle slammed into my left headlight at about a 45° angle!

The only skidmarks on the scene (per Texas DPS) was where my pickup was shoved 5 feet...BACKWARDS!!!
From the centerline of the lane I was traveling in to the centerline of my vehicle at rest was 20 FEET....WITH NO MARKS IN BETWEEN!
The ONLY thing on my truck that was not bent was the tailgate. The engine block was in 3 pieces. The transmission was under the cab.
When my wife went to the wrecking yard to retrieve my personal possessions out of the truck, she parked right beside it and didn't recognize it! 🤯

Left hip - femur head broken and dislocated.
Left foot - three broken bones
Right foot - calcaneous (heel) crushed
Assorted cuts and NUMEROUS bruises!

The other driver was DOI.

The Bell 206 that crashed south of Barrow this past summer and killed 3 plus the pilot was a helo that I rode in quite a bit in the summer of 2022. I wasn’t close to the three deceased passengers but knew and worked with them all. I routed the helo working directly for us to go check on their last IFR signal, since S&R was several hours from being able to go.

Sh:t deal.

IED’s are fun

Nothing like some here have experienced, and I’m sure I’ve told it before. When I was about 19 I was able to gain access to some of the best mule deer country on earth directly west of Smoot WY. (Some millionaire owns it now) I wrapped up the morning hunt, and the “one o’clock slam dunk as my dad calls it” where big bucks will get up and move around and feed a little at about one o’clock in the afternoon. I saw some nice bucks, but no big ones. I headed out and had to cross a creek about a quarter mile from the pickup. I’d crossed it in the dark that morning no problem. The place I went to cross it on the way out was about 100’ upstream from where I crossed earlier. Checked it out and it looked to have nice gravel bottom. So stepped right in and the bottom of the creek completely disappeared underneath me when I stepped in with the first foot. I sunk completely over my head, and never touched the bottom. I had a Weatherby Mark V with me that weighed at least ten pounds, fuggin’ thing seemed like a boat anchor. I don’t know how, but somehow I got over to the other bank and up on dry land with my rifle and all my gear. That’s about as close as I feel I’ve been to getting my ticket punched.

Cheated the grim reaper on several occasions but right now I am still alive. Tell my daughter I love her everyday, she doesn't understand, but maybe someday she will.

Hell of a composition 79...🤣

Flipped a boat once while duck hunting. It was 5 degrees that morning and I was in the water for over an hour. Made it out ok and went to a buddies house that was with me (he was on the bank and ok) to change into dry clothes. He got a call saying civil defense was dragging the lake (it was his boat, canoe actually) and they got the registration and was making the call. He told them we were fine and all was good.

Direct strike by lightning once. Lucky to be here.

Fell about a hundred feet off a cliff into a river. Landed between two Volkswagen sized boulders in the water. Very lucky on that trip down.

3 times I guess.

1. Come down a hill in winter outside Marquette MI. Load of water. Trailer started to come around hard and fast. At the bottom of the hill were 2 county plow/salt trucks parked talking to one another. Went flying through them at speed and we clipped mirrors on both sides of the truck. Thread the needle. They saw me, couldn't move over our out in time. Hill was slick.

2. Fly fishing for browns on Menominee river. Little island I was on to rig up. Stepped off the rocks around the island and immediately was in water that came within 1/2 inch of the top of my waders. No slope. As I stepped off, all I could feel was my foot not stopping and thinking my waders were gonna fill up and drown me.

3. Fishing browns on Oconto river. Shelf ice, very VERY cold that day. Fell through the ice to my waist. Pants froze stiff almost instantly. Hypothermic real fast. Didn't know if I was gonna make it outta that one and home/warm ever again.

LOL...

Yepp

Thought I was a goner a couple of times. White water and Canoe’s don’t mix. Near flooded Illinois river, picked a bad time to float it. Turned over, sucked under and came up under a branches, logs debris. Finally was able to bust through and get some air. I thought I was going to drown for sure.

Back surgery went bad. Doctor nicked my what he called a feeler on spinal column, lost a lot of brain juice. Worst headache I ever had. I was strapped down and could not move for about 24 hours. Dr told me I’ll be back in the morning and we are going to sit you up. We can tell by your response if the leaking stopped. I could barely talk my head was hurting so bad but asked how will you know. Dr said if you lost more fluid you’ll probably pass out. I said what then. He said we life flight you to Methodist Hospital in Houston and attempt to skin graft your spinal column. I raised up the next morning and was a little dizzy but the foam gel they up on the nick stopped the leak. I thought I was done in for good for a while, I can’t explain the headache. After it was all over pretty sure the doctor assisting was the one that nicked me. One thing I’ll never forget, when I came to after surgery I could see the Dr that operated on my out of the corner of my eye. He was setting in a chair with his face in his hands. The first thing I said was how bad is it. I knew something was wrong. But I made it through it. Missed a few weeks of work and of that deal with a different out look on life.

Been a few
Kenneth

I was 19, in jump school at Ft. Benning, and we were taking our 2nd jump. I got entangled with another jumper, and training kicked in, and I was lucky enough to get un-entangled with the other jumper before we hit the ground. The NEXT jump, I had a line draped over the canopy, which could have caught the canopy on fire if the nylon had enough friction to make the fire. They call those a "Mae West".

At the time, I didn't know how dangerous those two conditions were. Both could have resulted in serious injury or death, but I was too young and stupid to understand. I got lucky, no injuries and I didn't know enough to be scared until later.

More than I recall---- One I always remember happened about 50 years back. We were gathering cows.. A few slipped out of the herd so I urged the bay mare into a long lope to bring them back. We loped along a creek bank that was covered in weeds about 18'' tall, I had my eyes on the cows. Something caught my eye and I glanced down to see an old ricefield spike toothed harrow laying there. It was about 30'x10' with several rows of 8'' fixed spikes top and bottom. The mare went through the length of it without missing a step. From the saddle that looked impossible Had she gone down we both would have been skewered many, many times. Without a scratch, amazing. I had a visit with the rice farmer that left that old harrow out there.. Dozens of other times, like the rest of you..

Been quite a few times but the latest was 12/7/2020. I was chasing a coyote and somehow rolled the vehicle. Woke up beside the truck w the shotgun in my hand. My phone was making noise twenty yards away. The Lord told my twice if I didn't make it to the phone I would die. Too many injuries to mention but the EMTs that deflated my lungs in the helicopter said I was 5 minutes away from death. I do remember them putting 13 units of blood into me before the drugs kicked in. I'm now a lefty, hence my handle.

Worst moments for me were seeing my dad, wife, and son almost die. All separate incidents, but those experiences burned a memory that still haunts me at times. In my case, all survived just fine, but life is fragile and precious.

I really sympathize for those who have lost a child or wife from a tragic accident that they witnessed.

As local PD officer, I was hit by a drunk driver while getting into my patrol car. The pipe triangular mirror bracket on the passenger side of the van hit me and picked me up and threw over the hood of the patrol car. i was able to get up and run down the street to where the van had stopped for a red light. I ripped the driver out of the car and threw him to the ground. I was not hurt badly but shaken a bit. Close, but not my time.

2022 I was passing a windmill spar on Highway 200 in Garfield county MT, when a possible head on wreck presented itself. I stepping the brakes, but so did the truck.

1964 We were salmon fishing outside the bar at Westport WA when the coast guard rounded up all the kicker boats and sent them back in. The problem was the breakers on top of the swells were bigger than our boat. We surfed back in across the bar on the back of a big wave at 20 mph and never got swallowed by the white water.

A friend had just bought a CHP vehicle with a 390 interceptor in it and wanted to show me. We were on Treasure island out in the San Francisco Bay. He hit the longest straight stretch of road on the island at about 60 MPH and floored it We were somewhere past 130 on the speedo when he realized we were running out of island in an awful big hurry We hit half a dozen 55 gallon drums of bilge oil and they went flying out into the bay end over end. Then we hit a dumpster full of sheet metal which stopped us with the wheels 4-5 feet off the ground and that 390 still floored the dumpster took off and somehow we didn't go out into the bay.

I was on one of the ships that went to retrieve to Pueblo when the Norks grabbed it I didn't expect to survive that in a WWII destroyer.

I've been in 7 tornadoes. The first one I was less than ten at on a ferris wheel at a county fair. Didn't think I be getting off that before it got there. One caught me out on a lake in a duck boat. One I rode out camping on Oak Island in Lake Superior with my wife. One in the middle of the night headed home in my car and the sucker took down a power line that hit the car but never shocked me. Two of them fishing on the St Croix river. One at my home. Several other near misses inside a quarter mile. I don't rightly know if I should plan on one of them getting me sooner or later or that I have nothing to worry about because they always miss. The one on Oak Island was pretty scary, lots of huge old oaks and white pine were coming down all around us. I opened the tent flap and tried to talk the wife into make a run for the edge of the island and jumping down to where the sand had slumped down 10 feet or so. and just like that it was off of us and back out over the water.

Life im pretty sure I wont make it out alive.

1977 I was 23 yo, driving west on I40, sometime after midnight, dropping off the curvy mountain grade between Williams and Ashfork AZ, came around a curve at about 80. gasoline tanker was jacknifed across both lanes and shoulders, I hit my brakes hard, it slowed me down some, and skidded right under the tank. The only thing that stopped me from going all the way under was I hit right on the landing gear. Broke off the valve box and gas was everywhere, luckily it was just the gas in the piping as the tank valve was closed. Came to, doors wouldnt open so I beat the door open with my left elbow while holding the handle open with my right. Steering wheel folded over and I smacked my head into the windshield. Right knee demolished my 8 track player with Johnny Cash singing Girl from the North Country.

Two head on crashes, three drownings, was saved in the nick of time, went through the ice once on a lake and managed to get out while others looked on in disbelief.
, sliding backwards on an icy power line road on a mtn, with a long drop coming up, luckily the trunk ran up against a rock on the edge, took and bent front driveshaft on dads 4x4, took a bit to get us to safety.
A close call on cliff while climbing a mountain, one more step and I would have been gone.
A forklift accident, came close to going over on me, but somehow it stopped short of tipping right over.
Had a guy run a overhead chain hoist that sent the hook end flying by my head, felt the wind as it went by, they thought I was going to be hit.

My first mtn goat hunt. Tried going up a slide and got completely stuck. Luckily my buddy was up above me and was able to help me up. On the same hunt I was coming down and slipped and started sliding. Slid about 150ft and I've never been that scared. A year later a close friend of mine died goat hunting on the same mountain.

In 2009 in the hospital with double pneumonia and just wasn't getting better. I can remember finally giving up and looking at the TV in my room, turned off but thinking about how I wouldn't be waking up in the morning and how my next and last trips would be the morgue and then funeral home. Surprisingly it was a really calming thought and I was okay with it. I couldn't believe when I woke up in the morning and started making a turn for the better.
Another time I think I did die from sleep apnea and had a NDE but thats another story and was a life changing event.

Experienced a cabin fire in a small private plane with two other individuals on board. Cabin filled with thick smoke and flames were emanating from the dash board. Was flying from Ftw to Brownsville and was over Waco when the fire broke out. Started turning off all the instruments and it turns out the transponder was the culprit. The fire went out and cracking open a window cleared the smoke. Landed safely in Waco but was fairly certain at the time, I was about to meet my maker.

Dang, some of ya'll have had rough lives! I've had a few times that I thought I might not make it through but not as bad as many of these posts. Once when I was a teenager I was trespassing, looking around in an old falling in abandoned house; the next thing you know a guy who smelled like a brewery stuck a shotgun in my nose and threatened to kill me for trespassing. After a few minutes of cursing and waving around what looked like a four bore at the time he said git and I did at a high rate of speed. It's amazing how big a shotgun barrel looks when it's stuck right into your face. Two times as a foolish teenaged driver I nearly bit the dust; the first was going about eighty on an unfamiliar road in my Dad's work pickup, driving back from taking one of the guys working with us to meet his wife, straightened out a 90 degree uphill curve straight out into some woods. The only thing that saved me was by pure chance there was an old logging road at the exact point that I left the pavement, I went flying down it through the woods a good way before getting stopped. The second time was at night, again flying low on an unfamiliar road, ran into a 90 degree turn, lost it, my car went backwards the rest of the way through the turn stopping in the gravel and grass on the roadside just a few feet from falling twenty feet down into a creek. Both times I had to sit there for a bit before I could calm down enough to go again.

The last time was about a year and a half ago, I was driving home after carrying my wife to the dialysis clinic when a 19 year old pulled out in front of me and I hit him at 55 mph right in the drivers door. The air bags and seat belts saved my life although I did get knocked unconscious briefly and had a bit of a concussion and wrenched shoulder and neck. The other driver wasn't hurt even though his vehicle was caved in a foot deep from wheel well to wheel well. I never even had time to get my foot on the brake pedal, just AHH WAP and then people beating on the car window asking if I was okay. I figure that a headache and sore a few days was a pretty good outcome from that lick, destroyed both vehicles and didn't seriously injure either one of us. That boy's insurance got to absorb two vehicles and a big hospital bill. Poor judgement like I had at that age.

06:22 (am), 23 October, 1983, Beirut.
If you don't know what happened on that day, look it up.

My God man...😔

You were there?! That's incredible! I'd love to pry a bit and ask about your experience then, but do understand if you'd rather not talk about it.

My buddy and I were driving through Mexico, we were going to go surfing on the Pacific coast. Mexican cops set up roadblocks, way out in the country there will be sawhorses blocking the road, and five Federales standing around, along with a dozen Army troops packing M-16s. You pull over and they search your car. They don't know about "illegal search and seizures."

We pulled up to a roadblock, they had a dozen cars pulled over. George said "I'm sick of these roadblocks I am going to run it." I said "OK." George slowed to 3 mph, but he didn't stop, he rolled past the soldiers and all the cars, and rolled back onto the highway. We thought we had gotten away!

In two minutes, here came the cops, lights and sirens. The cop car passed us and blocked the road. The little Army guy jumped out and pointed the M16 at George. The Lieutenant driving, he was about 10 feet away from me, he aimed his 1911 Colt at my head and racked the slide. I thought we were going to die.

They didn't shoot. They made us drive back to the roadblock and we got searched for an hour. Of course we didn't have any dope or guns. They did confiscate my Buck knife. They let us go with a stern warning. In two more days we made it to the Pacific coast and we went surfing.

The moral of the story: STOP AT ALL ROAD BLOCKS IN MEXICO.

Better yet:

DON'T GO TO MEXICO

I was mowing a hill with a 2wd honda rancher 350 pulling a pullbehind mower. Started sliding backwards and atv finally did a wheelie. So I'm going backwards while the front of the 4wheeler was up in the air with a mower running. Sketchy couple of moments, through all my weight over the handle bars and it finally sat down. Did a wheelie on a ztr going up a hill also, that was fun.

I can say I have been very cautious and very few times I have been in any danger. My house all but burned down in the middle of the night on Christmas morning in 2008.. I was sound asleep ,, happy as anyone could be. Obama just won the race and I knew tough times were coming for a year. Worked so hard to pay off the house and got it done on Dec. 12, 2008. It was payed in full. I woke up to a tapping sound on the window that was very sharp sounding , like someone was using a coin to tap on the window. It was 6 below and quiet as can be. i jumped up and said who's there. I was 3' from the window. Thinking it was my Catholic neighbor coming home from midnight Mass. But, I smelled smoke and going to the fireplace , but there was no fire , just some ashes left but I could see a bit of fire in a crack in the mortar that I never patched. Everyone out of the house. and it went up surprisingly fast . The kids went down the road to the neighbor to call 911. SOmetimes there is no cell service so I called too. 911 told no matter what , dont go back in the house. I was already half choked from the smoke from getting my dads gun out that he gave me and shoveling snow into the fireplace to try to cool it down somehow. That was a mistake. I got out fine but was breathing heavy from a bad whiff of smoke. The house was so smoked out that we tore it down. The house was 3 yrs. 11 months and 3 days old . It was a brand new house . it was an electric fire to the fans in the fireplace . Other than that I took in some water on the north end of Green Bay on a stiff south wind. I have been very fortunate and am very careful.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for I am the meanest mutherfuqker in the valley!

Kudos Sir.

I looked out one day, and the neighbor's house was on fire. I called the fire dept and then called Frank at work. He arrived in a few minutes, the log cabin was fully engulfed. He said "I gotta get those shotguns!" He had 2 nice shotguns in there. I grabbed him and had to physically restrain him, or he would have gone in and certainly gotten lung damage.

"I do not fear the valley.. for I am the shadow".