What was the SCARIEST situation you've ever been into

[[R-DEV]Gaz]

For me, my scariest and also my most emotional moment was March 2003.

We were standing by at the border between Kuwait and Iraq, with the vehicles in parallel columns as ordered. There we were, sitting as front line infantry soldiers, about to cross into what for many of us was the complete unknown. The pre-tense to the Iraq Ground War (number two). A full ground war.

Then the portable warning siren being used as a ‘missile incoming’ warning went off.
Cue all muscles in bum relaxing, and feeling your last day’s meal sliding down. In a rhetorical sense….I was 20 years old and really didn’t want to get killed by a bloody dumbfired rocket. No one is fearless, and if you don’t get scared, you lie. Courage is when you can operate at 100% while being scared.

We had no cover, sitting in a Brigade holding position in the middle of nowhere, with people running about shouting ‘SCUD IN THE AIR’. ‘Bo**ocks, those things can carry Chemical weapons!’ I thought.

Our only cover would come from picks and shovels. Between 2 of us, I don’t think we had seen a 2 man fire (7ft x 5ft) trench, 3 ft deep dug in 20 minutes in our lives. But right at that time, F**K ALL ELSE mattered. People think the sand in Kuwait is soft like on a beach. Far from it. It's like digging concrete, as it's been baked by 45 degrees celcius heat for hundreds of years, making it solid. We got into our firetrench and sat there with CBA and helmets on, with the sweat pissing out of us. All we could do is wait.

15 minutes went by, and we got an all-clear. Que nervous laughs and bravado ‘Oh no, I wasn’t brickin my pants, hehehe’. Gulp. 10 minutes later, metal started banging. ‘OMFG, that’s the NBC alarm…..’. Respirators on, then the full suits. Then another Missile attack alarm went off. One of the Senior Ranks nicked an NCO’s respirator because he couldn’t find his, and this guy was CRAPPING himself With good reason too, for all we knew, there was chemical weapons stuff wafting about in the air right at that minute! We were sweating like pigs for 2 hours, sucking down water like there was no tomorrow.

One of the guys had a portable radio, and tuned into BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service – Army radio basically). RIGHT at that moment, we found out that BFBS had been to a family day held for the lads’ families back home and had recorded messages from all the families. As each one played, you could hear grown men with their faces covered by respirators, weeping below their rubber masks. I know I had tears in my eyes for some of the lads, as well as the messages for me.

It seemed so eerily weird that we should be hearing these messages right at that moment, under Scud and having an NBC alarm as they were suspected of carrying chemical weapons as their payloads. The desert was so quiet, no one made a sound while the radio was relaying it’s message to us.

I think there ended up being a total of 7 Scuds fired, with 2 impacts. The remaining were shot down by Tornadoes and by US Patriot systems. Then the Patriots decided Scuds were boring and shot down a Tornado

An experience like that makes you appreciate what you have in life. A healthy body, lifestyle and family and those who you love. There were a few other hairy moments during this time, but nothing like the above to hit home hard exactly what was about to happen.

[[R-MOD]KP]

Wow. Seriously. That sent chills down my spine. That's the sort of thing that makes me respect soldiers, not so much for who they are but for what they do and the way they do their job in the face of danger. Good you made it, mate. And keep your trousers clean!

[milobr]

Holy crap, Gaz. Beautiful yet scary story.

[ArmedDrunk&Angry]

I second everything KP said except I would add that it is who they are that allows them to do what they do.
You guys deserve all the respect in the world for volunteering to do that stuff.
Thank you.



@ Motivator ? What do you mean Nassau ?
You mean you don't want to put your life on the line for less than a McDonald's manager makes ?
What about the prestige and history ?
BTW: I never drive recklessly in LI because you already have exceeded your quota for maniac moron drivers.

[[R-MOD]KP]

Originally Posted by ArmedDrunk&Angry

I second everything KP said except I would add that it is who they are that allows them to do what they do.
You guys deserve all the respect in the world for volunteering to do that stuff.
Thank you.

Seconded, except I said what I said because not all soldiers are "good guys"; some can be right arseholes that wouldn't deserve my respect for the persons they are or the things they do outside of their job. But it's the things they do when they're on the job that makes me respect them.

[RikiRude]

Originally Posted by ArmedDrunk&Angry

BTW: I never drive recklessly in LI because you already have exceeded your quota for maniac moron drivers.

Don't forget NJ when it comes to idiot drivers.

Anyways, I don't drive, no car!

[Spaz]

Last summer, 3 guy really diden't like me, lucky me im a good runner lol they really, really diden't like me.

[[R-DEV]Eddie Baker]

When I was 15, my dad had a heart attack at home. My mom drove him to the base ER, and I stayed home to wait for my brother to get back and tell him. We were going to go out and get drive-through then meet my parents at the hospital. On the way back from getting BK, my brother wasn't able to stop in time for a yellow light and decided to accelerate through- then a car made a left turn from the oncoming lane into ours.

Seat-belt slammed into my sternum, food went everywhere and the shakes in my lap exploded (we never did find the straws). I forced open my door, staggered out and leaned my back against the car, gasping. Then I started laughing, then sobbing, because I remembered my dad was in the ER, and I worried that it was going to be some kind of divine or karmic balancing act where we survived, but my dad would die that night. The responding medics thought I had dried blood all over me, but I said "no, no, it's just a chocolate milkshake"

After we finally got home after doing the police report and calling everybody we knew collect (this was early 90s before mobile phones were everywhere) and finally reaching someone, we went to the hospital to get checked out and to see if my dad was okay. He was, and he's still with us. I still don't like driving very much.

As a f*cked up side note to the story, the officer who took the police report was murdered on my birthday two years later, which happened to fall on Friday the 13th. RIP Officer Bland.

[[R-CON]MrD]

hmm, I don't get scared sober, although I've gone into shock a few times after an event has passed and I realise what could have happened.

Under the influence though is another matter. But I can't talk about that here

[=Romagnolo=]

When I was arrested by mistake by the police. 3 years ago. It always scary when you have a lot of guns and gunshots aimed to you.