# Airman Doors is my hero! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350 "2004-05-27T15:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/1 "2004-05-27T15:39:06Z")
As most of y’all know, I am [afraid of mice](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245747&highlight=mice). This extends into other members of the rodent family, except for bunnies, which are cute and fluffy. Last night, we had an unwanted visitor. This was not a squeeze ball kicked under the bathtub in a sleep-induced haze. This was also not one of those big honkin’ skeeters that invade our house looking for a free meal, although we’ve got some of them too. No, this was a very-much-alive **bat** fluttering about the bedroom. Since it was flying and moving, it wasn’t a rubber prank bat. It was a living, breathing, flying bat. I panicked and ran downstairs, screaming bloody murder. I woke Airman up, who was sleeping on the sofa, and made him chase the bat out of the house with a broom. Finally, either the bat gave up and left, or Airman got sick of me whimpering, because he went upstairs to make sure the coast was clear. It was, and I slept peacefully behind a closed door while Airman stood guard downstairs, protecting me and Aaron from an innocent, scared bat. Damn, that thing was ugly! Robin ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/2 "2004-05-27T15:49:43Z")
Nowadays, is Batman considered a hero or an anti-hero? ---
**Author:** ![jellytoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jellytoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellytoes)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/3 "2004-05-27T15:54:01Z")
So, are you saying that bats are rodents? Or that they just look enough like rodents to frighten you? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/4 "2004-05-27T16:04:17Z")
Are you going to let **Airman** back into bed, now that he’s your hero? Or does he still have to sleep on the sofa? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/5 "2004-05-27T16:05:28Z")
> [@jellytoes](#): > > So, are you saying that bats are rodents? Or that they just look enough like rodents to frighten you? I had always thought bats were rodents. I now understand that they are not _Rodentia_, but _Chiroptera_ and not related to rodents. (See [here](http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/eutheria/chiroptera.html).) According to the “rodents” page on the same site, rabbits are not rodents, either, but lagomorphs. Perhaps I should consult a biologist before I post on this topic again. :smack: Bats and rodents are pretty icky, though. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/6 "2004-05-27T16:16:46Z")
Was broom handling covered in his military training? Just wondering. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/7 "2004-05-27T16:21:53Z")
Since he was an enlisted man, it surely was. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/8 "2004-05-27T16:25:50Z")
Maybe the Airman killed it in a dog fight! I would have dropped dead of fright. I don’t mind a bat living outside like it should, but when they move into homes, it is grounds for a fatal heart attack. Is it just me, or are there a lot more bats these days than there used to be? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/9 "2004-05-27T18:59:48Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Was broom handling covered in his military training? Sure. I think that comes under Anti Aircraft Weapons: Hand to Hand. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/10 "2004-05-27T19:07:38Z")
Hey, bats are great neighbors. When I visit my mother’s house (not too far from you, **MsRobyn** I like to stand in the backyard at twilight and watch them zigzag around high up, eating all the skeeters. I want to put a bat-box in my backyard! [sub]of course, my one encounter with one _indoors_ pretty much paralleled yours… shrieking, cowering under the dining table while my friend’s dad stunned it with a broom. And yeah, it was UG-LEEEE!I like bats as long as they’re not _inside the house_[/sub]. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/11 "2004-05-27T19:09:42Z")
Don’t get me wrong. They’re cute when they speak in an Eastern European accent (a la Bartok in _Anastasia_) or fly around Count von Count. And I know that they serve a very useful purpose in that they keep the bug population under control. I just don’t want them in my house. That can’t be too much to ask, can it? Robin ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/12 "2004-05-28T01:22:08Z")
[Calvin’s class] **BATS AREN’T BUGS!** [/Calvin’s class] ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airman-doors-is-my-hero/247350/13 "2004-05-28T02:25:50Z")
A tennis racket is far superior to a broom as a bat anti-aircraft weapon.