Tell me about a time where your quick thinking saved you.
Last year I was in Rome it was was about 1 am in the morning. I was riding around site seeing on a scooter that I rented and went to go see the Colosseum and things like that. I was alone.
When I was riding back home to where I was staying these two men came up to me and kinda blocked my path. One of them started talking about how it was nice meeting me at the club last night and the other was suggesting we take a walk somewhere. I knew that the girl they were talking about wasn’t me bc I hadn’t gone to the club in Rome yet and I felt really scared about the situation.
I kept getting the feeling that something wasn’t right so I told them I’d meet them back in the spot in a few minutes after I went home to grab something. I honestly can’t believe their dumbass believed me but they did and I just went home and stopped going out late at night there.
I saw the guys again a few days later and they were hassling another girl that looked like me. Every time I think about it, I have the feeling they were probably some low level kidnappers or something because they were pretty dumb for letting me go but also very upfront and demanding. I was glad that I was able to get out of there because I don’t know what would have happened.
When did quick thinking save you?
Tell me about a time where quick thinking saved your life?
During a training exercise I nearly got blown up. Had it not been for a quick thinking Ssgt I positively wouldn’t be typing this.
We were working with explosives that day, particularly Bangalore torpedoes. Myself and 3 other Marines put them in place and ignited the non electric fuse igniters on them. There was roughly 2 min of time fuse on them. As soon as we ignited them we turned around to run about 50 m down a small hill on dirt road that went straight and flat for about 150 m after the bottom of the hill and get into a dried out river bed with the rest of the company. The other 2 took off running. I made it about 2 or 3 steps before a piece of concertina wire (razor wire) on the ground caught my pant leg and wrapped around my both of my ankles. The next step I tried to take caused deep lacerations to my legs.
My feet were literally bound together by concertina wire, running was not an option and the clock was ticking. I tried bunny hopping away and got about 3 good hops in before I fell flat on my face. I then tired to inch worm my way down the hill for about 15 or so seconds but that didn’t get me very far. I then got on my side and started to barrel roll down the hill. I was making decent progress competitively doing that until a hand from nowhere grabbed my duce gear and started dragging me away from those bangalores.
There was a closer dried out River bed than the one the rest of the company was in at the base of the hill. He literally threw me in it face first one handed and jumped on top of me. About 15 seconds later the bangalores detonated. We barely felt the concussion fortunately and all shrapnel and debris completely missed us. That Staff Sargent literally risked his life to save mine. Had he gotten there much later we’d both have been shattered by the concussion and possibly cut to pieces by shrapnel.
A Bangalore torpedo is made with the explosive Composition B. The same explosive in hand grenades. A Bangalore is about as long as a broom handle, about a half inch wide and has roughly the same amount of explosive as 10 hand grenades. So that was about 30 hand grenades worth of explosives that went off in less than 50 m from us.
Forgot to mention the concertina wire had to get cut out with wire cutters. It was so stuck into my pants and mostly boots that uncoiling it was an impossibility. That was the first thing I tried. Unwinding it from my ankles and I realized after a second or so that was not going to happen so I started bunny hopping away from the explosives.
I was walking home one night after work when I was 17. I worked at the commissary on base, but lived 3 miles off base due to my mom transitioning out of the Army. Mom had a 24-hour watch so she could not come get me like she usually did. Most military bases are located in bad areas. Half a mile into my walk I came across 4 guys who were armed with knives and dressed in all black with ski masks in the summer. I got the sense they were going to rob me.
Lucky for me a woman was walking not too far behind me. She was an MP (Military Police) and therefore one of the only people who could walk on and off-base armed. She was also one of my regular customers. She chose to walk because she lived just outside the base gate and it was faster for her to walk to base than get in her car and get stuck in a long line of cars waiting to get on post.
I walked back to her and asked her to pretend to be my mom. She asked why and I told her what I saw. She walked me back to the base gate and explained what happened to her MP battalion. Keep in mind MPs have no authority to arrest off base. She had 5 other MPs walk with us. When these men saw 6 soldiers walking with me, they turned and moved on. Had I not listened to my instincts, who knows what would have happened? I was hot-headed back then and would have tried to beat their asses.
Im pretty good at saving my ass in a verbal discussion but if its in physical harm, it often took someone else to save my clumsy ass lol. I’m not a damsel in distress. Im ditzy af and stressed 🤣 I do wreckless shit when im scared so im not often thinking
No i run and will throw hoes in the way to distraxt whatever is after me 😂 bUt also, i tried to jump off a bridge and jump out a moving car into busy traffic. Im wreckless. Not frozen lol
I had a friend invite me to his family's house on a lake in upstate New York. His uncle had a ski boat that had a big outboard motor. There were two other guys there as well. We were going out in the boat. I sat in the front next to my friend and the other two guys were just standing astern. My friend had never driven a motorboat before.
He starts the engine and after I untied us he suddenly guns the engine. The two other guys fell backwards and landed on the deck. The boat was heading towards the dock at full speed. My friend panics and completely freezes up. I am sitting next to him thinking "We are not going to die today". I reach over and pull back the throttle and cut the wheel the opposite direction, than I shifted into reverse and push the throttle about half way. We missed the dock by inches.
It was 27 years ago... As I was coming out of my mother, I took a breath too early and inhaled a bunch of "stuff". Newly born and gasping for air, I quickly decided it would be best if I just laid there like a sack of potatoes and maybe pooped a little while the doctors did their thing. Thank I did too, or I wouldn't be here talking to you today. Which actually might be for the best, but anyway
I was a medic in the military and saved a few others. And I was volunteering at a horse ranch. The employee put a little girl on a large horse that had been acting skittish. We were getting ready for a trail ride. The horse bolted while we were waiting in line to head out. I ran and jumped at the horse's neck and held on. The little girl was screaming. I'm kinda big so the horse didn't go fare. As soon as he stopped I let go, held out my arms to the little girl, she jumped into my arms. I set her down and she sprinted back to her parents while I grabbed the reins. the employee took control of the horse thereafter.
She might be afraid of horses for life but she's still alive. I'm sure the horse just wanted to go to pasture and stop giving rides but horses are also BIG and there's no telling what might have happened.
I deal with it on a pretty regular basis, I drive an 18-wheeler for a living and people in these cars think that we can stop on a dime. Dodging idiots out here on the road daily
I get waves and thumb up from truckers because I stay in their line of sight when on my bike. It’s fun to cover my eyes with gloves, when they make right turns almost into the side opposing turn lane. They will often put an arm over their eyes in return. lmao People can be fun.
You're absolutely correct, people can be fun. Unfortunately the majority of them assholes. They're 15 seconds is more important than anybody else's 15 seconds. We do appreciate people like you. I'm a biker myself. I can't imagine killing someone on a bike because I didn't see them
Cresting a hill on an interstate in a "group" and coming upon stopped cars in the roadway. Slowed down far in advance and moved as far away as possible. It ended up a multi-vehicle crash.
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