What’s the one moment in your life that should’ve killed you, but didn’t?

  • Join our community of outdoor enthusiasts! Subscribe to Field Ethos Magazine to unlock full forum access and connect with fellow adventurers sharing their stories, tips, and experiences.

    If you are already a subscriber, log in here.
alexis.dansereau said:
I just came back from 1 week in Afghanistan hanging out with the Talibans. Crazy beautiful country, but man there were some close calls. One time we were stranded in a village and my guide slept on his loaded AK which, I didn’t know, was pointing to my head all night long. 8 hours of him moving around on his one in the chambered rifle.. no misfires, thank god it was soviet engineering and not a SIG
Click to expand...
Dang. Had a few close calls like that while I was on a MTT in 08'. It's definitely interesting to be on a flat range with indig. Spent most of it telling them if they are going to jerk off on post at least face out and cover their sector of fire.
 
I was living in Tanzania in 2007–08, working with an anti-poaching unit on a hunting concession that butted right up against the Serengeti. It was honest work, the kind that smells like sweat, dust, and diesel, and it had a way of reminding you—daily—that the bush doesn’t care about your intentions.

One night around 10:30, the two guys manning the Observation Post radioed in. They’d spotted a fire. Not a cooking fire. Not a mistake. A poaching camp. About five miles out.

We made the call to walk it. No engines. No headlights. Just boots, rifles (mine and the game scouts), and bad ideas wrapped in good intentions.

About halfway there, the route funneled us through a mess of thick brush and rock kopjes—those massive granite outcrops that look timeless and feel like ambushes waiting to happen. I was first in line, because I had the big gun—a 500 Nitro Express—for anything with teeth, horns, or an attitude problem.

That’s when my right foot suddenly felt… wrong.

Heavy. Like someone had tied a lead weight to my boot.

I stopped. Slowly. Turned on my red headlamp. Looked down.

There was a puff adder. Its fangs buried clean through my rugby sock.

Not striking. Just… attached.

Time did something strange right then. I remember thinking, very clearly, Well, this is going to complicate things.

Prior to this ordeal one of the PHs told me when he cut roads in the off-season, he always scrunched his rugby socks down to keep seeds and burrs out of his boots. That night, I’d done the same thing without much thought.

Those thick, folded socks didn’t save my life—but they likely saved my leg. Maybe it saved me from a long, ugly stretch of nights in questionable healthcare, wondering how bad antivenom shortages really get.

The puff adder eventually disengaged, via Mbasha (one of the rangers) using the sharp side of his panga (machete) to relocate the body of the puff adder. After 10 minutes of working with multiple pangas and my cold steel knife, we eventually got the head of the puff adder out of my sock.

We still walked on. Still shut down the camp.

The bush doesn’t always announce itself with a roar. Sometimes it just grabs your sock and waits to see how serious you are.
 
When I was 17, I started skydiving in Clovis, New Mexico. I've had several close calls over my time jumping.

Which include the time a new jumper in a head down dive when I was jumping in Muleshoe, Tx (yes there is a town by that name) missed me by about 10 -20' (traveling between 150 - 20MPH), or the time my then girl friend (and now wife of 43 years) and I were scheduled to do a round robin set of jumps in southern California on Spikes Twin Beech, but due to a demonstration jump I was invited to that popped up (Port Hueneme Navy Base I believe) we re-scheduled for the next weekend round robin. Everyone on the original round robin died when the plane crashed on take off inTaft, California (https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/1982...parachuting-jump-plane-crash-near-taft-ca-14/).

Sometimes you do stupid stuff that you know is outside the proper parameters of your sport. In my case, my parachute malfunctioned on two previous jumps, and I handled those situations well. I was jumping at the Perris, Ca. dropzone one weekend when I had my third malfunction (and last fortunately).

I was so "used" to the process of cutting away and deploying my reserve, that when it happened again, I made two almost fatal decisions. First, I decided that I would get a little more free fall out of the situation since my Main "slowed" me down (a bit) so I didn't immediately deploy my reserve after cutting away from the main.

Second, on my previous two malfunctions, I lost my cut away devices (AKA pud) and my reserve ripcords. I was not making a lot of money at the time, so I wanted to hold on to these. That in and of itself is not such a bad decision, but may have contributed to the next problem.

Since I was not at full terminal velocity due to my main being deployed, when I cut away, I started to pitch forward and roll onto my back. So I'm holding my cut away pud (pat on the back), but now about to be upside down relative to the earth, which is not ideal when on your last parachute. and apparently very close to the ground.

Out of shear panic, I ditched the cut away device and pull and discarded the ripcord like it was on fire.

I reverted to my training for my very first jump, and hit the hardest arch position I think I ever did, bringing me back to a belly to the earth position. The reserve ( a wonderful Piglet that opens in milliseconds) opened and I oscillated about 1 and 1/2 times before landing behind the packing shed (fortunately not on it).

Funny thing is that my future wife (who also jumps), who I hadn't met yet, was standing behind the packing shed and had to run to keep from being pancaked by this Dumb A** Marine. She told me later that she could see the space between my fingers I was so close to the ground. I had several other close calls before I stopped jumping in 1992, but this was probably the closest to death I ever came.
 
Last edited:
jaycobkelsey said:
We don't stay at cheap motels any more.
Click to expand...
Not my story, but my Nephew was on a job in Florida staying at a motel. Around 3 in the morning someone is pounding on his door. He gets up, and opens the door (prior to looking through the peep site - bad idea). Two guys rush him and tie him up. Yelling at him for the money. He has no idea what they are talking about, He seriously thought he was going to die. I guess they got tired of him denying he has their money, and convinced them they had the wrong guy. They leave him tied up, but alive. The maid finally lets him go the next morning. He calls the police and while they are taking down his account of the situation, the guy in the a room next door asked him what all the ruckus was, and he told him the story. He said the guy turned white, and made quickly to get the heck out of there. I guess the invaders picked the wrong room. He quit the job and joined the army immediately. Couple of tours in Afghanistan and he is now an E8.
 
3rd year of college was a doozy. Was playing football, wouldn't have started right away but I was set to play a lot. It was the best off season training I had done, gained about 35 lbs of muscle that summer. It was the last 2 a days of camp. Coach said he would go easy on us in the AM so we went half shelfs. During position work I came off soft because we were half shells, huge mistake never go easy. Guy across from me got into my body stepped on my foot, foot stayed body/knee went the other direction. It was just a dislocated knee cap and they go back in on their own. It was the fifth time I had done it two on one knee third on this one. Took me a month to come back this time, the other times I played minutes later.

Came back to practice for a week and then got mono. I missed 3 weeks of school sitting in my room half dead. Lost 40-50lbs and all my strength.

Finally got back to school for a week and started to feel better. I was caught back up on my school work driving back to our house from Campus. While driving back I was reviewing some of my assignment, ya kind of like playing on a phone these days. I looked up in time to see a fully stopped bucket truck. Thankfully because I wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I had enough time to hug the steering wheel. Don't think I ever got on the break. It folded the steering wheel in half and pushed the engine hard enough it cracked all the shit inside the truck.

I have a hard head, don't think I actually got knocked out but I remember holding some napkins on my head that was barely bleeding from the windshield. They helped me into a ambulance and I got picked up a few hours later by one of my buddies.

Sad part is I still didn't wear a seatbelt until I watch someone else crash and die.
 
Several...

But this was a weird one.

abcnews.go.com

'Block-Buster' Truck Bomb One of the Biggest Ever

Afghan national security forces near the border with Pakistan recently intercepted one of the largest truck bombs ever built, a massive "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device," or VBIED, packed with some 61,500 pounds of explosives.
abcnews.go.com abcnews.go.com

The largest recorded potential suicide explosives truck (over 60,000lbs of explosives) was almost detonated outside our small forward operating base in Afghanistan near Gardez.

He pulled off the road next to our small base. Looking suspicious, our guys at the gate went to check him out. In a panic he tried to detonate but messed it up–and our guys shot him in his cab. He was then brought to an Afghan hospital in Gardez proper for treatment... but he ultimately blew himself up with a grenade in his hospital bed.

What makes it weird/freaky for me is that I was asleep–and my sleep hut was on the base-side of the hesco barrier right where he decided to pull over and try and detonate.

If he successfully detonated, I would have literally been incinerated in my sleep.

Basically... I would have "never woken up."

It's one thing to see death coming... but to never wake up? Weird one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Shane Limbeck
If we handed you the mic for a Field Ethos story night, what’s your opener?
2
Replies
36
Views
753
Ron Dan
Ron Dan
G
The One that Got Away
Replies
4
Views
232
huntbirdz
huntbirdz
Shane Limbeck
What’s the one place everyone should visit before they die?
2
Replies
38
Views
949
Jillian C
Jillian C
Shane Limbeck
The one firearm you regret selling — we’ve all got one.
2
Replies
27
Views
631
iammattpowell
iammattpowell
F
Aground in the ‘Glades
Replies
0
Views
12
Field Ethos
F
Back
Top