Describe any accidents, events, etc. you were actually involved in that could have caused serious physical harm or death to you and/or someone else when in the military....

Here's mine:

1) While at jump school at Ft. Benning in June 1983 I had another jumper who couldn't steer his parachute collide with me during our fourth jump. My chute went over top of his and it stole my air, causing my chute to collapse...after for what seemed like an eternity, but which was only a few seconds later, I was able to break free with only a few broken shroud lines...Needless to say I was just a bit shook up and wasn't really thinking clearly enough to do a good PLF...hurt my ankle, but not enough to keep me from making the fifth jump and getting my wings...really scary though...

2) I was PFC at the time (1984) and I had been instructed by a buck Sgt. to drive one of our mortar carriers (tracks) back to the motor pool from the range where we taught trainees the fine art of using carrier mounted morters...the thing was I had another track in tow because it was mechanically disabled...
I did what I was told, and not having much field experience with the tracks at the time I had no idea that the Sgt. had disengaged the differentials on the track in tow, which meant it had no brakes...fine if your using a tow bar, but he had used cross cables...this is a guy who had spent three years in Germany in a Mech unit...
He also didn't ensure I had a TC (track commander), which would later turn out to be a blessing in disguise....
Well, everything was going along well until I drove down a steep hill on the hard ball (asphalt) and the track in tow didn't slow down as I was trying to negotiate a curve in the road...the track in tow rammed the back of the track I was driving, knocking me silly. I lost control and ran off the side of the road into a culvert...my track flipped onto its side with the TC hatch coming to rest against a tree right where the TC should have been (thank God he wasn't there)...with the other track still in tow by only one cable by now, all I could hear was the tracks on my carrier spinning freely while fuel poured all over me...before going over, I was able to hit the lever under the seat and drop down into the drivers compartment and just held on for dear life...once the dust settled, the Sgt. tried to put the blame on everyone else, but there were just too many witnesses that saw him do his thing with the differentials...he was held responsible for the incident and I think he was transferred soon thereafter...I suffered only minor cuts and bruises...Hope to do a dio some day of the "crash scene"

G'day all,
These are a few pic's of the last M113 I ever drove. And the the cause of my medical discharge from the Australian Army.
Long story short. Tactical driving whilst closed down. I never saw the stump. But is funny to see other crews on the same day hit dongers bigger than the one I hit, and yet still walk away without so much as a scratch.But thats life.

Cheers Jason

Once at Ft. Hood while practicing mortar hipshots, we wheeled into position by pivoting off #3 gun and I was driving the #1 gun track(M106) and we had to swing wide through some scrub trees. Saw a branch come at me and braked hard. Stopped with the branch pinning me to the back of the driver's hatch. Thank goodness for the CVC. Had to feel around until I could slap it in reverse.

Did manage to get a M106 skidding sideways going downhill in the rain in Germany but managed to recover.

Paul

travlling down to the Alps ofr adventure training in 1993 I was in the leyland sherpa as passenger/co driver van carrying everyones bags,gear and fresh rations such as eggs and bread to cut a long story short we hit some ruts on the autobahn and threw the van on it's side we went spinning down the motorway on our side at 70 mph and came to a stop in front of a entry onto the road driver lost some skin from his arm as he had the window down and I got whiplash it was one of those rare days I had my seat belt on I'm glad I did it saved my life always wear it without thinking now

During one of our annual AT's at Fort Drum, we where on a live fire exercise. While going up a hill, Pvt. McKool ran in front of my line of fire...I could'nt believe, I must have missed him by 1-2 yards . I yelled seize fire-seize fire, the exercise ended and for McKool well he got

Finishing a mortar shoot in Petawawa with a smoke mission and having the smoke blow back towards us and cover about 1/2 mile of highway 17 stopping traffic for a while until the smoke cleared.

Sabot, interesting about keeping the ammo inside the tanks in Germany. That has probably been changed back and forth many times. I got to Baumholder in 1972, and they had just changed to NOT having the ammo stored on board, due to security reasons.

I had two close calls while in Germany. The first involved a Reforger and I was assigned as an FO with the Infantry. We were conducting a night time raid against the "aggressors" and the CPT leading the patrol got "misoriented". I knew where we were and should have said something, but he was an O3 and I wasn't. We got to what he thought was the objective, and he formed us up on line and we broke out of the woodline into a cleared (and lighted!) area and charged up the hill. Right at the Ready Reaction Force (with LOADED Weapons) at the Special Weapons Storage Facility that was "three grid squares from here". My Recon Sgt was a Vietnam vet, and smart enough to recognize the sound of live rounds (as opposed to blanks) going over our heads, and grabbed me by the web gear and threw me to the ground. It was a good day to NOT be in charge!!

The other close call was on the OP in Baumholder and one of our M109s actually dropped a round BEHIND my jeep. (We figured out later they had fired at loading elevation). The round actually hit at a very flat angle, did not hit the fuze, and left the classic gouge in the mud with the right hand curve (due to the rotation), and tumbled over the top of the jeep (with a VERY strange sound) and then hit down at the bottom of the hill in the mortar impact area, where it did detonate. I didn't realize what had happened until the guys at the bottom of the hill went scurrying past us, and some folks doing training in the woods about 100 meters behind us came up to my jeep and asked if we knew that some "trash" had fallen off one of our rounds!

Had it gone off when it hit I would probably been very seriously injured, as the crater was about 50 meters behind the jeep.

We were able to blame the whole thing on VERY old powder (WW II vintage) and a very strong head wind. And the safety officer who would otherwise have been relieved, went on to have a very successful career.

Tom Hathaway

Well, I've got one funny & one skeerie...
Skeerie first-
While serving with1/8 on a Med float, the MEU had debarked in a to-remain-nameless desert country. We stayed in the sand for training ops in the host nation's main training area. Due to daytime temps around 112F, most of our training was accomplished between 2200 & 1000 Local. One evening, a well meaning but naive Citadel grad 2nd looey led his heavy weapons plt. out to the .50 cal range. He managed to find the correct firing pos., but since most of the TA maps were in the Host country's language, he couldn't seem to figure out how to site his weapons. Finally deciding that he was supposed to aim at some vehicle hulks a few ridges over (in his defense this all took place at around 0300-0600after several hot,sleepless days... )he called in for weapons hot & gave his position. @0730 he was given weapons free clearance and commenced firing @0745.
As I was attached to H&S company , I happened to be coming out of the Mess tent in Base camp at just this time. Myself & a few comm guys just coming of watch started hearing this odd ~FWWAAAP!~ sound, and stopped, blinking & looking for the source of this odd noise. Someone suddenly noticed Two very Large chunks of wood fly off the Comm Shack (& had the presence of mind to put 2=2 together) so he hit the deck shouting"INCOMING ROUNDS!!!!" we all hit sand, myself & two othersbehind a cucvc in what we thought was as safe position. Don't know how long we were hunkered down, but we started hearing some metallic thunking from the truck, & the comm boys started retrograding to the latrines. Just as i was about to take the same action, I heard the Top's voice shouting over the Reg. net "CHECK FIRE!CHECKFIREYOUSTUPIDB*^&%$#&*YERSHOOTINUPTHECP!!!!CHECKFIRE!!!!. Alas, the command didn't stop the rounds in flight & one of them shattered against the eng. block of the cucv, sending a 7mm fragment of copper jacket into my knee and flipping me over (just a flesh wound but pretty dang skeerie at the time.).
Total damage: 1CUCV with at least 7 holes (3 in the block), 3 minor wounds, 1 broken arm( guy who tried to take cover in the latrine tripped & fell half down the hole ) 1 wrecked pr-269 radio, and a 2nd Looey that never saw 1st. Oh, yeah, we had to pay back the host country for "damage to facilities". Turns out the guns wre trained on the ridge used for grenade launcher trng, with the CP just another ridge behind that. Lt never bothered to call in & check the siting of the weapons, & just guessed at his azimuth. We got LUCKY!

The Funny-
As A-Driver for my Bn in Dragon/Hammer-Tartaruga on Sardinia (a NATO op), I was called to drive the BN staff to a Top brass meeting across the Island. Our BN commander told me we were running late & needed to get there by the shortest route possible. As all of the shiny collar types & Sgts Major piled in to the back of my Cargo HMMWV( I forget the designation, but it was the Highback softtop w/winch & 5' fording gear) I said "O.K.,sir, but it'll be a little bumpy & we might get wet..." His Response: "Hell with it Corporal! Treat this this like a combat Op. Get us there now!"
With barely concealed glee, I set out After several minutes of muttered cussing from the back, we rounded a turn & jounced down a hill at high speed toward a large (20m wide) puddle. The colonel turned to me & asked ( with a bit of a twinkle in HIS eye )-"Hamilton-can this thing make it through that ?" I told him that I'd never hit a water obstacle the HMMWV couldn't ford. Now the CO knew that several of us had field modded our vehicles so that the front compartments wouldn't flood during beach assaults, so with a very good poker face he told me-"Well, corporal, if you've got the stones, go for it."
Needing no further prodding, I pulled out the auto throttle & crouched one foot on my seat. (The CO followed suit)
Well, about 4m into this adventure, The wake began to infiltrate the back compartment. Shouts of dimay & death threats quickly followed, but a glance at the CO confimed my orders-Full speed ahead, & damn the whining!With the vehicle now in a pronounced nose-up, (& the din growing louder) we bounced into what I can only guess was a tank trap under the water. The back canvas caved inward & the engine went into overspeed as the vehicle suddenly doubled in weight. I'll never forget the look on the Colonel's face when he turned around to see his XO floating out the back!
I reduced power to the engine, a wheel grabbed, and we made our very soggy way to shore. I must admit I thought I' need the winch on that one. Pausing only to drain the cargo bed & collect the XO, we arrived on time at the NATO gathering, with all of our sopping, muddy brass looking a bit out of place among the French, Dutch, British, and other commanders- Not to mention the 2 Warsaw Pact observers that happened to be there!
Although we found out later that the WP fellows were impressed that the Marines came "Straight from the field" to attend. Needless to say, we took the long way home. I don't think any of those officers ever forgot me ( Some took to calling me "Mad Max") & I certainly never forgot that CO-
His name was Michael W. Hagee, & he went on to become Commandant of the Corps.
SEmper Fi!

This is a good one Rob. Thanks for sharing. :-)

1. 1980's @ Ft. Carson: Lost a track in a 113. Went up on a bank, on to one track (like a stunt car) for bout 20-30 m, than slammed back down. Luckly, no one hurt. Track behind us was sure we were going to roll.

2. Also at Carson: Driving w/ TOW up in firing position (old 113's w/ retractable TOW that droped inside crew area) the traverse head (about 40-50lbs) popped off and fell onto another soliders head. He had a steel pot on so it did'nt kill him, but he was mighty &*#@ up. Choppered him out and never seen again.

3. 1980's at NTC: Had Pvt. NO-Brain try and fire a LAW (simulator) off about two feet in front of my face. Lucky he was too dumb to install it correctly and it did not fire.

4. 2002 - Last (for the best) Trainning for a trip to meet some unfriedly people in a distant land, I got smacked in the head w/ a stick about 4-5" dia. Fractured skull, internal bleeding, concussion, etc... I walked around for next day till Plt. Sgt. noticed I "was'nt quite right". My unit just got activated but no trip to the sand box for me - still feeling effects from having my brain smacked around (if you ever read any of the posts by me and it seems like a babbling, now you know why).

Tom

Thanks for the stories thusfar guys...I love reading them...keep them coming!

Once, I was doing my Chaplain Assistant duties in my office and got a paper cut. Boy, was I embarrassed.

On alert in Germany Nov 1977.Driving back on a side road at night.Some locals were coming the other way in one of those flatbed VW conversions.They were drunk.They nosed into our lead tank
s track in front of the sprocket,and they were thrown across the road ,and landed upside down,unhurt.
Polezi came by,and took one look at thwem,and said"Tipsy,jah?"
It was pictured on the front of Stars and Stripes.So if any one can check their database...

Okay, for real this time.

I was driving my chaplain out one night on the big island of hawaii. I was with HHB DivArty, 25th ID.

We were using black out drive lights with the CUCV (blazer) and driving up a Puu (next to Puu Ahi).

He said "keep driving, Raber" I said "are you sure sir? I can't see squat!!"

Boom!! I dropped into a cinder pit on the side of the Puu (like a mini mountain). We had to walk back to basecamp (hour and a half walk). We had to send out a gamma goat to our vehicle to drag it out. Tore the front axel in half, killed the oil pan and I got yelled at by my 1SG. At least my chaplain (who was a captain) took responsibility for it.

I made it a habit to get fully functional 4 wheel drive vehicles stuck in Hawaii and Japan.

Story 2
Big C was the gunner on our plt Sgt's tank.BIG guy.
Strong body.Our unit was always short handed,so sometimes other guys would help crew a tank during gunnery.
SO we were on range 20 at Graf,I was loading for the Plt Sgt,Big C as the gunner,and the Stabilizer was on.
He was target designated onto a target,but couldnt make it out,so he started traversing the turret.
He was aimed at the tower,the plt Sgt screamed cease fire,and I put the gun on safe.
Very quietly,I switched places with Big C to finish the run

In the early days of the war were in now i was with 2nd recon and took out a t 72 with a portable tow missle one shot blew it sky high 4 weeks later i was on a transport plane on my way to a military hospital with 3 gsws to my body one 2inchs from my heart

Operation URGENT FURY, 26 OCT 83 @ 0515hrs. at a little no-named place called "LITTLE HAVANA"

Result from being a young 22 y/o E-5 Asst. Squad Leader and on the "RECEIVING END" 75 meters from the BAD GUYS..

1) Losing a DAMN FINE C.O., CPT MICHAEL RITZ ( KIA ) only to find out later on the same day that we also lost my squad leader, SSG GARY EPPS ( KIA ).

2) Waking up long enough only to find out that while being at the aid station waiting on a MEDEVAC I got pissed off and cussed out a FULL BIRD COLONEL (must have been the drugs talking..) because I didn't FEEL LIKE being screwed with at the time and the last thing I wanted to do was to have MY PICTURE TAKEN and shaking hands with people I didn't know after having came out of a fire-fight and then LIVED to talk about it AFTER THE FACT!!

3) Getting back to Ft. Bragg, getting some medals pinned on by an "0-8", then having a PHOTO OP with EVERYBODY from E1-"E.T." and his brother..

4) SURVIVING the last 21 YEARS, glad to still be here even though having 85% disability from the VA, but being able to understand that my "purpose" in life was to be able to "grow-up", "DRIVE ON" and become a father to a GREAT little guy, but to also NEVER FORGET who the REAL HEROES were that early October morning that ended up changing the course my life.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of how blessed I am and even though I don't drink any longer, each October 26, I take a PERSONAL DAY OFF from work, find a quiet little place, and then lift two shots of "JD" in a SALUTE to two VERY GOOD FRIENDS.

I'm sure that I will continue to do this every year until the day I die. As for the medals and awards, they stay packed away in a box along with a few other things I took away from the island. The only thing I wear is a "mini version" of my CIB along with a 325th pin on my suit when I need to play "dress up" for the old lady on special occassions..

Sorry for the SOAPBOX, but those are MY THOUGHTS & FEELINGS, and I appreciate the chance to say:

"THANK YOU MIKE & GARY "


ABD
B 2/325 AIR

Some of these sober me, while the rest just plain scare me! Keep them coming.

Jeff

With almost 22 years in I have more experiences than I can count, so I'll just list the ones that are most vivid.
22 June 2003, a little place called Al-Fallujah. While manning a traffic control point looking for bad guys etc. we were ambushed. Small arms fire and RPG's were everywhere. After several explosions and many, many rounds fired back, we surveyed the area. Lots of shell casings, disinergrating links, grenade spoons, a couple of empty TOW tubes and lots of holes in our vehicles. Amazingly, 2 RPG's found their mark on one of the supporting Bradleys, but didn't detonate. Another RPG had found it way into the rear tire, right next to where I was standing and didn't detonate. All of this and not one single scrape to any of our folks. Some ears were ringing from the RPG's that did detonate, but that is it. The bad guys didnt fare so well, 4 KIA, one being shot by the Brads 25mm. Not much left of him.


Now for a funny one...
While at Ft. Bragg with 3-73 Ar. (Free Worlds only Airborne Armor Batallion) we were manuvering out by Camp McKall (sp?) somewhere in the neighborhood of 0200 hours. We came into a clearing and had pretty good illumination from the moon. I started looking around to see if I could get my bearings when I noticed a small flag about 30 meters away. I had my loader go over and see if he could ID what it was and if it said anything. He promptly jumps down, and trots over to the flag and returns about 30 seconds later with a puzzled look on his face. "Whats it say?" I ask. " He says "14". "What?" "You heard me. Fourteen" just then the light came on in my head. Small clearing. Little flag on a stick. Yep. We were sitting on the 14th putting green of the local golf course. Now the Sheridan only weighed 20 tons fully combat loaded and we were no where near that weight, but we left one hell of a divit on that putting green that night. Lots of yelling and cussing later we laughed about it. Come to find out we actually sank into the ground a good 6 inches :-) Maybe some more later. "Q"

That would have to be my first HALO jump yesterday-
Dive exit, waited a tad too long to extend my legs, started to tumble. By the time I stabilized, I pulled my altimeter too close in to read it, causing a spin. I stopped the spin, went through my pull sequence, and dipped my elbow too far, causing another spin as I pulled. I had good canopy but so many twists in my lines I almost considered cutting away. (another jumper did, on his very first jump) Due to a bad JM spot, we all miseed the DZ and nearly landed on the highway.
Today was much better. Poised exit, no tumbles, spins, etc... It was actually enjoyable. Flared a little too low, so I slid in on my ass, but it was still sweeter than any round chute PLF. Even found a beautiful piece of petrified wood on the DZ.
Two down, twenty eight to go...

I sent you a PM...I was with CSC 2/325 during the Grenada Invasion, but didn't get to go because I was in the mortar platoon! I was on Cpt. Ritz's funeral detail!!!

When I was a Carson there were some guys slave starting another tank and had the tanks nose to nose a Big NO NO. with a guy standing between them. The one tank lurched forward and crushed him between the two tanks.
2) I was helping one of my troops at Knox Remove a Breach block from his tank when the chain hoist broke and the block came down and crushed my ankle, ending my carear. This was an M1A1.

No bullets ...

Germany, 1972-ish. Our Bn Cdr liked to take the controls of the Bn helicopter once in a while. I was Supplemental Pay Officer & hitched a ride up to Kirchgoens. As we were leaving, we somehow got sideways -- that is, the blades perpendicular to the ground !!! The actual pilot backhanded the LTC, grabbed the controls & did something magic to save us.

Germany, 1977, REFORGER. We're inventorying our stuff at Germesheim & loading up.. I'm walking between a forklift & a deuce&half -- close to the truck, plenty of space to forklift which is stationary and facing away form me. The fork driver goes to reverse & the throttle sticks & it comes barreling at me. An NCO yelled & I performed some amazing feat of putting my hand on the fork & jumping/twisting/turning & just avoided being crushed against the truck.

All of my other really scary military events have to do with less than cordial relations with certain senior officers .... Well, except for a few events on firing ranges but we've all had them ....

John

I remember that operation very well. We sat on standby at England AFB in the dark that morning with all of our junk (with the exception of Cold Weather Gear) and rumors that we would be issued basic loads.

Our CO was running around with maps of Honduras...we had no clue what was going on. Once the order to stand down came we learned about Grenada...of course, everyone asked...where the hell is Grenada?