What is the most dangerous thing you ever did?

I know, it sounds absolutely crazy, but even after all those years of jumping, and putting troopers out the door - I’m still terrified of heights! It was a career I pursued rather foolishly. I never got used to refresher training we had to do every so often if we didn’t jump for awhile. We had to recert by showing we could safely and confidently exit the aircraft, by jumping off the 34ft tower.

 

One more pic….

 

If you absolutely must enter areas known to have quicksand, do so in bare feet and naked legs (ie. wear shorts). That way the quicksand's grip won't be nearly as hard should you fall in, and getting out will be easier.

 

Motor vehicle related, mostly. I drove a car for over 60 miles while not having slept for 36 hours. Another time I was driving in the dead of winter on an icy road with a set of really bad and worn out winter tires. Rear wheels lost grip in an intersection, when I made a left turn, and the car spun 180 degrees. My saving grace was that it was night time, I was alone on that rural road with nobody else on the move, so nobody saw this happening to me, and there was no fear of crashing into somebody. I was also in a very lucky position, where I didn't crash my car into anything. For all intents and purposes, I got away scott free, and was able to just nonchalantly make a U-turn and continue driving back to the direction I was heading, albeit with a slower speed now. I took the hint and bought a fresh set of winter spikes next autumn.

 

Saw some @#£&ed up things while homeless there for a few years. I definitely put myself into unnecessary and very scary situations, all because of the drug I was enslaved to.

Calling my friends bluff that he'd murder me (had a knife pointed at me, he was in psychosis) would probably take the cake for all the memories of that horrible time.

Basically could feel the energy raging like a hurricane. He was going to do something, at some point, and I knew dillydallying was probably not the move.

Adrenaline shakes don't dissipate so quickly when you're that freaked out. (⁠+⁠_⁠+⁠)

 

Got married to a woman

 

Heheheee!!!

 

I had a perfectly good job after high school in 1969.. I was a 'hotshot' crew member with LA County FD (wild land fires)..

One day at work cutting firebreaks a rock shifted under my feet and I tumbled/slid 70' and cracked my hardhat on the first rock impact.. Docs said I had a concussion and I was transported home.. after being at home about ten days, County wanted an EEG to determine severity of injury & eligibility for temporary disability.. Enroute to hospital I impulsively stopped at a recruiter and enlisted in US Army.. For some reason I wanted a more exciting job and I wanted to see the Vietnam War before it ended.

I served in 101st Airborne Div as an RTO (1970-72).. I got to see the war..

I still do..

too much testosterone isn't necessarily a good thing..

 

Went parking a a substation during a lightening storm. We were tingling all over the entire time.

 

Went out to mark timber with a small crew. As were drove to the site the nearby Iron River, Michigan radio station cheerfully announced “ the current temperature is minus 35Fand the wind chill is minus 65”. An injury at such extremes could quickly proof fatal. Loggers had shut down their operations at minus 20. That was BEFORE the US Forest Service had employee unions.

 

damn..

I lived down in Redding until 1992... there was a weekend (in 1990? maybe earlier) where Fri, Sat, Sun was 121F, 117F, 113F..

coldest I've seen it up here was 8F
worst part is when it doesn't get above 32F for 10-15 days.. that screws with irrig valves..

it hit 15F -20F for three days once in Redding -where builders ran all indoor plumbing was run through attic w/o insulation-

codes were changed after that..
million$ in damaged homes..

 

most dangerous thing i ever did was also stupidest and that was driving drunk

 

Oh gawd, my Dodge Charger was involved in many situations.

 

Unlike Eric, I only did it five times, one the hotdog way hooked up to an instructor, and then five statics, but it was plenty scary enough. But I understand exactly what Eric means; fear of plummeting to my doom wasn't the same as my dislike of heights.
I also was damn scared when I sang for the first time in front of a paying audience who weren't friends and relatives. "Mr. Cellophane" from "Chicago," to be exact. Long story about that one...

 

I would rather jump than sing a song in front of total strangers

 

I got to that point by a circuitous route

 

I tried to go up a nearly... I'd say 80-ish degree slope on a four wheeler in the Adirondacks. I'm not a taker of risks, I wouldn't do it again unless I absolutely needed to.

 

I sped about 90 mph down the Turnpike

 

x

 

That's what a charger is for!!!