@indi: scary when you realize how close you could have been to death, glad you made it though, lol
.
I've never really had any near death experiences, I guess if you count the time a few years ago (actually about 5), all of my cousins and my brother and I were at my house and the parents were out doing something, and a couple of the older kids were supposed to start dinner, so they started it and about 30 minutes later the parents got home and realized that they hadn't lit the stove but it had just been spewing gas everywhere (none of us smelled it, but the adults did as soon as they walked it
). So I guess you could say I might have been a light flick or spark away from death (or all of us could have been).
That's one reason I don't know if I could ever join the Army, considering they go through that stuff all the time, and it'd be overwhelming stress and anxiety
. I saw one story where some squads were patrolling in Iraq, and as they moved one of them yelled, and it turns out he only sprained his ankle in a pothole, but it caused one squad (I think there were two squads patrolling together or something) to stop and check on him, and about 10 seconds later an IED went off right next to the squad who kept going, I think killing most of them. Only the fact that the guy sprained his ankle prevented them from being in that same spot. What if that guy had planted his foot 6 inches off? Things like that are the most scary.