combat of any time and place

[Olefin]

grew up in a town where fist fights were a daily occurence in my school and in the multiple bars in town - and also went to college in a city that had very high unemployment and really resented it when the college guys dated the local girls because they had money

Multiple hand to hand fights with fists from elementary school thru college including participating in three all out bar fights in college, during one of which I had to take down a very pissed off gentleman who armed himself with a broken bottle and came at me

one fight with a bum who pulled a knife on me when he objected to me gathering bottles and cans (I wasnt one of those who was rich at my college )for money on "his spot" in my senior year of college

in both cases I managed to disarm them (had several family members in the military who had shown me several ways to disarm someone with a knife)

and had one experience with firearms facing three large gentlemen who were in the process of sabotaging my brother's truck during a dispute with the Teamsters - during which time I blew out one of the tires on their car to show them I meant it when I said get down on the ground - and after my brother searched them we found out they all were packing various pistols

[Targan]

I'm in Australia. I had plenty of fist fights at various school, I didn't get big and strong until late in high school so I took far more beatings than I gave out. Last year of school though, a guy jumped me in class and smashed my face into a desk a couple of times. I'd been doing Tae Kwon Do for a year or two at the time and I knocked him out. Fractured his skull, poor bugger, put him in hospital.

I didn't include weapons but I did get stabbed by my stepfather a couple of times. Also got pretty badly mistreated by a former family friend one afternoon too. Child abuse probably doesn't really count though.

I haven't had any real punch-ups as an adult, but I've stared people down plenty of times, especially late at night on or around public transport. I dunno, I guess my angry face is pretty scary

[Rockwolf66]

Numerous fist fights, had a half dozen attempts to stick a knife in my hide and I've had a couple incidents with firearms.

The real kicker is that I try to be a nice guy and not start any trouble. Hell I rarely go to bars. Unfortunately I am always in need of money and I have worked in some very nasty places. Fortunately for me most of those places are much lower on the list of regional dangerous places than my home town.

[LT. Ox]

" I didn't include weapons but I did get stabbed by my stepfather a couple of times. Also got pretty badly mistreated by a former family friend one afternoon too. Child abuse probably doesn't really count though."
My old man was an Irish truck driver and an abusive drunk, his favorite thing was to cuff us to our bunk bed and whip us with a belt until we were bloody welts. Yeah man it counts!
I started Kenpo then Aikido at twelve, he left me alone when I got to fifteen and put him in the hospital, my Mom took me to the pawn shop and bought me a Browning 9mm got him home and told him.
What counts is being eye to eye with someone that wants you dead our really hurt.
It makes a change in you that you can mark down on a calendar and say
“that is when I knew what fear is” and can now look back and say “ I made it!”
Thanks to all for posting and voting

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Targan

I didn't include weapons but I did get stabbed by my stepfather a couple of times. Also got pretty badly mistreated by a former family friend one afternoon too. Child abuse probably doesn't really count though.

I haven't had any real punch-ups as an adult, but I've stared people down plenty of times, especially late at night on or around public transport. I dunno, I guess my angry face is pretty scary

Child abuse doesn't count? Try growing up under my Stepmonster! Emotional abuse doesn't count? Try growing up in my uber-dysfunctional family!

As for staring people down, try telling them you're schizoaffective, while turning on the crazy eyes. They don't know what schizoaffective means, but they've heard schizo and possibly schizophrenic, and now you have their attention. Add the psychosis diagnosis in -- they hear psychosis, but think psychotic (which technically I am) or psychopathic. Then, with undue care, pull out your swiss army knife, open the longest blade slowly, then say something like, "Now leave before I eat your heart fresh out of your chest." Add some hysterical laughter. That little punk with the switchblade who just told you to give him your car "or I'll cut you" runs away, probably home to change his underwear.

Six months in Wally World and another three months in Womack? I can do crazy, dangerous crazy, catatonic, antisocial, and more. Wonderful learning environment.

[LT. Ox]

I like your Defense mechanisms.
Do not dis my functional response

[swaghauler]

1). Numerous scuffles just like every other LE officer here.
2). A beer bottle to the head, and a pool cue to the back; Both while bar bouncing during my college years.
3). A welcome to the sh**storm mortaring on my first night in country during Restore Hope (we were initially housed near Circle 4 North in the University district).
4). A skinny took pot shots at me with an AK on the road outside of Kismayo and I tried to run him down. He ran into a house and I ripped off the awning (tarp on poles) in front of his house. He cracked the window on my uparmored HEMMTT and my passenger side front tire had a bullet hole in it but the CTIS got me home.
5). Got impaled through my right hand (palm to back of wrist) by a thug with a glass shank during a fight while I was working security at dance at Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. The School Police caught him for me.
6). Got my left thumb and middle finger slashed by a shoplifter I was trying to arrest in Warren OH. He tried to stab me in the stomach with a butterfly knife and I caught it. I was very proud of myself for about 2 seconds until he pulled it back and cut the tendon in my thumb and took the top off of my middle finger. I just stood there holding my thumb as he ran off with two cartons of Newports.
7). Got slashed across my left rib cage by a shoplifter with a box cutter in Shadyside (PGH, PA). I didn't even know I was cut or that he had a box cutter until he tried to slash my throat. It was icy and I had hyper-extended his arm to disarm him when we fell on the ice. His arm got broken and that ended the fight (the Pittsburgh cop showing up didn't hurt either). It took 46 stitches to close my wound and I got a written reprimand from the security company I was working for. The perp sued us for his broken arm and my supervisor reprimanded me for costing the company money (it was cheaper to pay the perp's medical bills than fight the suit).
8). Got beaten by 4 gangbangers (Crips) in East Liberty (PGH, PA) trying to stop what I thought were 2 gangsters stealing meat. They opened the festivities with a thrown brick to the head. They followed that brick with a good old fashioned "Pittsburgh Street Beating." 17 days in the ICU and 45 days in the hospital convinced me to stop doing retail theft for a living. They gave me 51 broken bones and a very bad attitude from then on.
9). Got stabbed in the back helping a Vernon Township officer in a fight at a local restaurant. My partner and I were coming back from a prisoner transport and stopped to eat. A fight broke out and when we jumped into help, a drunk then stabbed me with a steak knife. It didn't penetrate the stab guard in my RBR vest (bent right over) but looked fatal to the onlookers. I got a small bruise out of it. The drunk didn't like what he got....from me or the judge.
10). Got shot at by a Meth Cooker with a 12 gauge during an entry. Fortunately he watched too many movies and believed a shotgun didn't have to be aimed. He hipfired and blew a hole in the wall to my right as I breached his front door with a 20 lb sledge. Chris my "overwatch" shot him in the leg with his .40 and luckily NEITHER shot blew up what was a major meth lab. You couldn't even breath in that f***ing place and he and his girlfriend had two toddlers in there. I hope there's a special place in Hell for people like them.
11). Got bitten on my right hand (meatiest part of the base of my thumb) by a female shoplifter who was trying to escape. I had to go through a bunch of tests because she was an addict and had Hepatitis A.
12). Got bitten on my left side ribcage by a drunk while I was bar bouncing. I had him in a headlock and he bit me. Hard.
13). Got bitten on my left bicep by an emotionally disturbed woman that the judge 302'd. She decided she wasn't going to inpatient mental health and really chomped down on my arm. There was an officer from Meadville in the courtroom and it took both of us to get her to let go.

This doesn't fit into "Combat" but it does deserve mentioning....
A). I got shot in the back by an incompetent coworker on the training range. We were working for the Armored Car company and were practicing a dynamic shooting drill involving a reload. we were in an L formation at the back of the car (the way you would be if unloading the truck at the rear) This individual was small in stature and not very proficient with firearms. He had just traded his S&W Model 10 .38 for a P7M8....the most dangerous pistol in the world for an unskilled shooter to use. 3 1/2 lb trigger, weapon cocks and the slide releases with just a squeeze of the frontstrap. He had his finger on the trigger during the reload but had to turn the weapon sideways to reach the mag release because he didn't like using his trigger finger to drop the mag (like H&K had designed it to). He squeezed the slide and the weapon discharged...hitting me at a shallow 30 degree angle right between the shoulder blades. The only reason he survived is the shot knocked the wind out of me and I couldn't outrun the range master as I chased him to the parking lot. He traded in that P7 for a Glock 23. One night he put that Glock in his back pocket (instead of a holster) with a comb and climbed into the truck to get his ditch bag. The gun went off and blew a .40 caliber hole through his right butt cheek. POETIC JUSTICE! they let him go after that. For the record, I had a nasty bruise from the point blank strike but no broken bones or any real injury (despite a hit next to my spine). As I said before, it did wind me. If anyone still has doubts; BODY ARMOR WORKS.....

I think you can see now why I bought my Military Time and retired at 20 years. I felt like my luck had run out.

[LT. Ox]

my first body armor. Stopped a .45 left lower rib cage. Man what colors the human body can produce with a little help.
9 mm to chest but had plate inserted at the time. trama plate diffused the hit way better and the vest was nearly ten years newer design. Point Blank I think.
I think you have me beat for number of stitches.
And I am glad your still around to tell the WAR stories.
Thanks.

[swaghauler]

I'm sure this applies to most of the LE here but 9 out of 10 of my incidents involved people who were addicts of some kind. Impaired judgement is always a factor in people offering violence to other people.

The reason so many of my incidents were during Retail Theft stops is because of the Law of Unintended Consequences. In the 90's in PA, a 1st Offense was a Summary Offense (like a speeding ticket) unless the value of the item was $200 or more (then it became a Misdemeanor). A 2nd Offense was a Misdemeanor 2 (unless the item's value was $200+, then it was an M1). A 3rd Offense was a Felony 3 (irregardless of the item's value) with jail in most cases. Since most shoplifters are "repeat offenders," they had nothing to lose by fighting with you. Most of the people I had altercations with carried knives for one simple reason. They were prior offenders and many were already on probation/parole. A gun would mean 10 years, but a knife would generally only mean a 48 hour detainer. I will never do retail theft again.