A time when you were truly scared?

2015-04-10T22:11:48-04:00

Was there ever a time in the military when, even for a moment, you were truly scared? You may have overcome it, but in that moment you felt real fear. Yet you are here to tell the tale so you did something right! Willing to share about that moment?

Response by SPC Elijah J. Henry, MBA made Apr 11 at 2015 2:45 PM

2015-04-11T14:45:42-04:00

My fifth jump in Airborne School, I was scared. Not for me, but for the fellow student who was falling through my corner vent! He was actually hanging from my corner vent by his canopy. The further he slipped through, the faster he slipped through. I was afraid that he would fall through before we could land, and that he wouldn't have time to deploy his reserve.

We had already had one student die; he landed on another student's canopy and got tangled in his cords trying to get off. Of course, this was prominent in my mind.

We followed our training and the Black Hat's instructions from the ground, and we both landed uninjured.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Apr 20 at 2015 10:38 PM

2015-04-20T22:38:47-04:00

My first fear was when I jumped off a crane with a bungee cord strapped to only my ankle and it was a Friday the 13th. South Padre Island. I was National Guard and signed the wavier without reading the fine print. Needless to say Fear was conquered although I can't say much for the lack of thought.

Response by SFC Stephen King made Apr 20 at 2015 10:44 PM

2015-04-20T22:44:00-04:00

About 2 yrs ago I had to brief the Vice Chief of Staff Gen Cambell. I started to catastrophize and do some real time resilience overcame my fear the brief Went better than I expected. I say thi to show that we are our own worst enemy. #fear

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 20 at 2015 11:18 PM

2015-04-20T23:18:24-04:00

I met my son after my first deployment. He was 6 months old. I was shaking...could barely talk. Thought if I held him I would break him. Little did I know at 6 months he was like a grown man...lol...I can say I have never been more scared and happy at the same time. It was a weird feeling.

Response by CPT Bob Moore made Apr 20 at 2015 11:24 PM

2015-04-20T23:24:32-04:00

There was a time that I slept with my boots on and my rifle by my side because I honestly thought someone was coming through the wire that night. I can't really say I slept much.... They never came, and I have to say I was quite relieved.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 20 at 2015 11:38 PM

2015-04-20T23:38:47-04:00

This will be a long one so here it goes....

On August 24, 2013 my platoon was conducting route clearance in Afghanistan. We were about 3km outside the wire when the biggest explosion I have ever seen went off three vehicles in front of mine. Upon the dust settling and calling IED on the radio I called our dismount teams back to the vehicle that was hit. After sending up the initial report I asked my PL for a sitrep and he responded that it didn't look good. He told me that the gunner had been ejected and that the driver wasn't moving. Upon hearing this I sent up a sitrep to the TOC I got a call on the platoon net that we had two Heros (code word for KIA). After the MEDEVAC took the two Heros out and after spending hours recovering the destroyed vehicle we went back to the FOB. Once we arrived I was approached by my 1SG and he told me that not everyone in the platoon knew that two Soldiers had just died. I instantly teared up and confronted my guys.

After this event my chain of command made the call to fly us to our home FOB to get some R&R time to get our heads back on straight and fly back up to get our vehicles three days later and clear the roads back. Well, Mr. Taliban had other plans as they attacked our FOB with a 3,000lb VBIED and about 100 fighters, needless to say all the Taliban died in their effort.

A day after the FOB attack we flew back to the FOB where our vehicles were and started prepping for our long journey back. As we were clearing very deliberately we found some copper wire, a cache with some IEDs, and a recoiless rifle. Upon our confidence being boosted we continued clearing. About 10kms from our battle space a buffalo that we were escorting was struck by a VBIED. The VBIED destroyed the buffalo (not an easy feat) and severely injured the six Soldiers inside (all of the Soldiers survived). 24 hours after we departed the FOB we arrived at our home FOB.

After this week of hell I was scared out of my mind. I told my PL, who was scared out his mind as well, I don't know how much more I or the guys could take. We took this opportunity to tell the guys how afraid we were of losing anymore guys and that they needed to let us know how they felt. They responded with the same feeling.

I have never been so scared in my life as Inwas during that week and the following weeks after that hellish week. How me and my guys held it together is beyond me.

Sorry for the long post.....

Response by COL Charles Williams made Apr 21 at 2015 12:26 AM

2015-04-21T00:26:56-04:00

Somalia, 1992... flying along in brand new UH60, all is well, the pilots are enjoying the ride as I was in the jump seat just behind their console... When all of the sudden, all of these lights on the dash start flashing... "Master Caution" etc... They start scrambling, flipping switches.... and then call in the ICOM to hold on, and then on the radio we are going down... Hard landing, but those dudes knew how to do it... Climb to Glory!

I have been in plenty of ground combat scenarios, and at least there, I feel like I get a vote... Flying, as a non-aviator... passenger... is very helpless feeling... and I have done it a lot...

SFC Mark Merino you can probably relate.

Response by CPL Jay Freeman made Apr 21 at 2015 6:01 AM

2015-04-21T06:01:09-04:00

To dumb to be scared. This is my issue I have been told. Rolled a humvee 3.5 times and then fell another 15 ft landing on the roof during a state side training my adrenalin kicked in when the humvee started to go onto it's side up to this point my truck crew and I where afraid of rolling but once we started I embraced the fact we may die. I was the driver. As we rolled I kept my mind racing with the end scenarios if we land upside down then I need to turn the engine off if we land right side up I need to get us out of there.we landed up side down I crawled out and helped get others out our Lt was stuck by his seat belt and bleeding. We all lived but it was a hell of an adrinlan rush I have never been able to do placate.

Response by SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. made Apr 21 at 2015 11:45 AM

2015-04-21T11:45:07-04:00

This is kind of hard for me to write but I hope someone will recognize the story and realize they aren't alone.

About one month in country (Vietnam) it hit me like a ton of bricks exactly what was going on. I was in the middle of a group of highly trained and motivated individuals that were actively attempting to hunt down and kill a group of people. On the other side was another group just as highly motivated attempting to do the same thing to ME! It brought me to my knees and turned me into a shaking mass for about 8 hours .. fortunately we were behind the wire at the time. I could not even look up at the wire surrounding the Night Defensive Parameter. And then it passed and I have never been the same since.

Response by SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM made Aug 11 at 2019 5:56 AM

2019-08-11T05:56:59-04:00

During my 1st deployment!

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 20 at 2022 10:50 AM

2022-09-20T10:50:37-04:00

I had just gotten married to my beautiful wife before being deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan. God protected me and allowed me to come back home. I was very scared leaving her not knowing that I might not come back but I had to remain strong for her. I now have a two year old daughter and a baby boy on the way!