# Most dangrous place/position you've voluntarily been in? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648 "2013-03-11T19:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/21 "2013-03-12T01:32:16Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’ve been caving in locations where the rocks are loose enough that I could literally punch the wall and knock off a hundred pound chunk. Combine that with a low ceiling and getting pinned to the floor is a real possibility. > > No possible way would I have gone there solo. But if I had, well, remember the story/movie about the idiot that had to cut off his own arm with a dull multi-tool? > > Quick lookup. [Aron Ralston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston). Idiot. I was thinking more of [Floyd Collins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins). Nothing to offer here, other than driving a bit unsafely on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/22 "2013-03-12T01:39:47Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Camped as camp mommy with Bloodguard on the serenghetti Pennsic 25 and watched the tornado rolling towards us while sitting in a tent. Survived several plague years _without_ actually getting the plague! … really? Are you still in Bloodguard? I was a member for a couple years, in the Northshield contingent. Went by the name of Gustav. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/23 "2013-03-12T01:48:17Z")
At an oasis in Nevada one time, the one over there near the trilobite beds, where the pomegranate trees grow, I decided to swim across a water filled quarry (well it would have been difficult to swim anywhere else). Swimming across went fine, and the swimming back was OK too until about half way across when it dawned on me that I was really cold and pretty well exhausted. There was nothing to do but chug on, though. I swam and swam, getting colder and colder and more and more exhausted. It occured to me when I was about 20 feet from the little dock I was aiming for that I was done in. I could barely make my arms and legs move. The closer I got to the dock, the slower I went. It was like one of those dreams where you’re in a mad panic and want to run as fast as you can but your legs are heavy as lead and the ground is made of molasses. I was only about 6 feet from the dock and really at the end of my rope when I began thinking “this is just how people drown, a few feet from safety, just having some fun… and I am about to be one of those people.” I was looking at my friend Jennifer sitting on the dock chatting with her friend Amy (who was in love with her own tits) and I thought “Jennifer could reach out and pull me in from here” but I didn’t have the strength to call to her, and even if I had she would have thought I was joking and splashed water at me instead. I thought “this is really gonna bum Jennifer out if I drown a few feet from her.” Apparently the thought of how embarrassing it would be to drown in front of my friend gave me the strength for one last kick, and I finally got close enough to the dock to grab it. I hung there for a minute getting my strength back, then hauled myself onto the dock like a seal flopping on an ice floe, and lay there until the sun warmed me up enough to start moving again. It was a very, very close thing. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/24 "2013-03-12T02:08:35Z")
Drunk car surfing on the way home from closing the bar. Three of us, and we still wonder how we’re still alive and wonder what that guy watering his lawn at 2am must have been thinking when he saw us cruise by. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/25 "2013-03-12T02:10:09Z")
Baghdad. It wasn’t exactly voluntary. Not directly anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/26 "2013-03-12T02:55:54Z")
This pales in comparsion with many other’s experiences, but I have been the homes of at least two murderers of women as their home health nurse. In both cases I was alone in their homes with them; one man I was aware of before I went to his home, the other one told me he was accepting a plea bargain for killing his wife. Never a dull moment in my line of business! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/27 "2013-03-12T03:22:07Z")
I went to the former Yugoslavia voluntarily in the early 90’s; then hell broke loose and I got to watch the biggest bloodshed in the Balkans since World War II. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/28 "2013-03-12T03:32:09Z")
A gale in the north Atlantic Hiking across the Grand Canyon alone Neither time did I feel like I was in immediate peril, but either time could have turned bad without too much margin for error. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/29 "2013-03-12T03:57:49Z")
I’ve had a couple of close calls at work. Once a lighting position that should have been solid swung six inches out toward the edge of a thirty foot drop before it stuck, and my life flashed before my eyes. Last year a(n idiotic) coworker (who should have been fired long ago) very nearly pushed me off the top of a ladder as we lifted a long section of pipe. Jackass. I felt the ladder go up on two legs (not the front two, or the back two, but the _left_ two) before . That guy needs to find a new profession before he hurts himself or someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/30 "2013-03-12T04:32:47Z")
trying to wrestle a tiger to get a piece of raw meat away from it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/31 "2013-03-12T04:57:37Z")
Hmm, let me see if I can describe this situation. In college, I was hiking with some friends in some ruins outside of Fes, Morocco. In the center of the ruins, there was this deep pit- probably about 50 feet deep and 300-400 feet in diameter. One side of the pit came up against a large rock face. To get to the other side of the ruins, we had to jump over an area against the rock face where the pit narrowed to about 3 feet across. My friends jumped easily over and in the end I did too. But I thought a little bit before the fact and a long time after the fact about what would have happened if I had slipped. In a totally different situation, a client of mine (I work with children with behavioral problems) nearly succeeded in pushing me backwards down the stairs. I teetered, but grabbed the railing at the last moment. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/32 "2013-03-12T05:04:39Z")
Not even remotely comparable to some of you, but going with a friend to confront the occupants of a neighboring apartment, where it sounded like someone was being beaten (ACM’s thread today made me think of it). Nothing bad happened, but in retrospect, it would have been smarter to have just called the cops first, since we didn’t know who was going to be on the other side of the door. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/33 "2013-03-12T05:25:13Z")
Several while flying, Left engine quit while IFR with moderate icing in a C-310. Aileron locked full left on a turn while doing pipeline patrol. Military of course. Motor cycles. Boats. Lots of things others said was dangerous but I did not think so… at the time. So far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/34 "2013-03-12T05:44:42Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’ve been caving in locations where the rocks are loose enough that I could literally punch the wall and knock off a hundred pound chunk. Combine that with a low ceiling and getting pinned to the floor is a real possibility. > > No possible way would I have gone there solo. But if I had, well, remember the story/movie about the idiot that had to cut off his own arm with a dull multi-tool? > > Quick lookup. [Aron Ralston](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston). Idiot. Not many people realize it, but the arm thing was the 2nd time Ralston made national news after being rescued. Before that he was buried in an avalanche while back country skiing. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/35 "2013-03-12T06:44:24Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … really? Are you still in Bloodguard? I was a member for a couple years, in the Northshield contingent. Went by the name of Gustav. I wasn’t in Bloodguard, my champion was - Ian Maclaughlan [device was some horrible concatention of blue and silver waterfall lines, I would have to go get one of the badges we had to get a picture of it.] I enjoyed BG, Ice was a great guy to hang out with. I really should reup my membership, scrounge a champion and get back into going to tournaments. Well, I would also have to get a new pop-up pavillion and make some new garb. [[Spring Coronation, 2003](http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy176/aruvqan/lizzy.jpg). Why yes, I get dressed in parking lots, doesn’t everybody?:p] ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/36 "2013-03-12T06:49:17Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > “Does my butt look big in this?” > > “Yes honey, yes it does” And you’re still alive to write that??? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/37 "2013-03-12T07:04:38Z")
Military things (no combat). Motorcycle - a couple of close calls in 25 riding years and 175,000 miles; riding trips in bad weather, including some heavy snowfalls, even at night. Heavy rain coming down in sheets, late night, with lightning strikes close to the front causing temporary night-blinded eyes. Long road trips (car), a few times in bad winter blizzards and I was too young and stupid to pull off the road when I should have. Killing a rattlesnake with a knife. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/38 "2013-03-12T11:55:10Z")
Cross-country skiing across a frozen lake in Michigan with a friend we stopped for a rest. As I bent down to unlatch my skis I saw a spiderweb of cracks spreading out from under my skis, with water seeping up through the cracks. Canceled the rest period and attempted to tippy-toe veeeeerrrrryyyy carefully away from thin ice. Getting caught in sudden IFR conditions as a student pilot flying solo and having to make an emergency landing into a hayfield. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/39 "2013-03-12T12:32:10Z")
I once found myself between a SWAT team and a man barricaded in his house. At night. :eek: \*as a crime reporter. I moved to a safer location in time. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648/40 "2013-03-12T12:44:34Z")
I once walked out of a bank at around 10 pm, into a circle of heavily armed law enforcement who were convinced I had no right to be there. I very nearly wasn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-dangrous-place-position-youve-voluntarily-been-in/652648.md?page=3)