LOL, Gunny. I can see why the "nervous" types might want to avoid you (and Stephen, too!) While I've never been in actual combat, there have been times...While doing my stint on the base police in Cuba, during the Revolution, I was on watch at the place where the Guantanamo River went through the base fence. Being an "international waterway", we could not fence it off. One night the nitwit on watch with me was putting a clip in his M1. Just as I bent over to pick up a piece of fire wood to use that morning do drive off the mosquitos, he fired a round "accidentally" right over my head! It was all I could do not to feed him that M1. As it was I took all his remaining ammo. Later the same night I was down by the river when I spotted the Marine Patrol topping a hill about a mile away, when they hit their brakes. They sometimes tried to sneak up on the sailors on watch on the other side of the river (we crossed in a boat)and catch them asleep. As they rolled up with their lights off, they did not see me under the shade of a tree, the moon being pretty bright. They got out of the jeep and walked down to the riverbank. I yelled "Who goes there?" after the third time they didn't answer I jacked a round in the .45 I was carrying. In the quiet by the river it sounded like jacking a '97 Winchester shotgun (which I was also carrying). Immediately came the response, "Marine Patrol, Marine Patrol!!" I said, next time you're challenged, answer back. "Okay, Okay, take it easy," they said. They got back in the jeep and left.

Another night I was standing watch at a magazine near the fence, close to the beach. I had my shotgun and a battle lantern. Occaisionally Cubans would sneak onto the base and try to steal whatever wasn't tied down, especially if it would help the rebels (Cuban variety). I started hearing this rustling in the tall grass around the magazine. I got up on top of the magazine, and waited. The rustling got closer. It had been a long night, and was close to daylight. The noise got louder, but I could not pinpoint it. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer, and turned on the battle lantern, holding it way out to the side, in case I drew fire. I was being sneaked up on by a new hatch of crabs, heading for the mangroves! They were pouring out of a cistern I had not seen before, and crawling through the grass by the thousands!. Was I gald to see the sun come up that day! I never liked crabs of any kind, especially when they attacked in the dark! LOL Stan