Just got picked on by a C-MAX!

I've heard about that one. People don't realize even regular soldiers are much stronger physically. We have just had a friendly competition against local firefighter in their Fireman Challenge. They told us their fire resistant uniform and oxygen tanks weights quite a bit, combine that with running up and down the stairs and carrying 180 lbs dummies is not to be underestimated. When we suited up and turned the oxygen on, well we almost halved their best times in the challenge. Not to take anything away from our firefighters, they are quite fit compare to the average citizen and was no match when it came down to physical abilities of a line soldier. We are used to carrying well over 100 lbs of equipment running around in horrid conditions with adrenaline pumping all day. Those wannabe gangsters never had a chance!

I am not asking for special treatment at all. I am very used to rude and rush hour city driving, I was originally from New York and Boston, both ranked E and F for road safety and courtesy. But at least most of them just cut you off and speed off, none of this I will tailgate you and flash my lights BS.

I agree driving a Prius is not an Army norm, I've received quite a few smart comment about my Prius from my buddies.

 

I agree it is not the best business practice even if it was the same class. However, if they don't research a little before making a major purchase then I feel no sympathy for them either. I liked the C-MAX for as long as it took my research to change my mind...1o minutes. At bare minimum, at least google "Product name" + "review" even for smaller purchases.

 

To wrap this thread up. Perception is a very individual thing. Sensing danger and different levels of danger also varies greatly from person to person. Although, my experiences might have triggered a defensive response, my actions IMO were nowhere near extreme. Soldiers coming home from war has a stigma against them. It seems that we are associated with random acts of violence, i.e. FT Hood shooting or Gun man who ran and hid in MT. Rainer (Those did not even go to war as far as I know). Since there is quite a few national news incidents about Vets and soldiers, we do get placed in the same group in the public eye. And I am not sour about that. Believe me I've had my fair share of prejudices against people of the Middle East. The deployment changed my views and I saw families like you and I, kind and friendly people just trying to get by and provide for their families.

I am not an aggressive person, however, if you bring unprovoked conflict to my face, I am likely to react and put an end to your threat. If you break into my house, I will shoot you. Like I said, people react differently. Many will hide and call the cops, but I will shoot and call the cops after to clean the mess up. IMHO I do not feel I am insane to react to threat and to overpower that threat in self defense. I understand getting tailgated and cutoff is not comparable to the above mentioned, but my reaction is not either.

 

I was clarifying myself. I think as the thread went on, people mixed up what I actually did and what I thought I might have done if it would have happened right after the deployment. No harm no foul (What did I tell you about my defensive mechanisms )

 

Please read other pages of the thread
"at the moment I felt the need to defend myself and teach that moron a lesson. Hindsight 20/20, I would probably not do it again the same way." (quoting myself)

Believe me when I say this, I have never "snapped" at least not how I define the word. "Snapping" means I would have rammed his car off the road, took out my 45 and repeatedly shot him. Like I said, it is all perception, everyone has their own way of dealing with "instigation" We are not going to change each others minds. So please, read this thread for entertainment purposes.

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o

I appreciate your concern, I know the timeline on this thread and what I said I did or would have done is getting all mixed up. I have been back for quite some time now. And have been through counseling. I respect everyone's opinions. And I would like to clarify this again, the level of force I used to respond to the aggressors IMO was no greater. It was annoyance tactics that lasted all but a mile. Risk assessment is different for everyone. Some might think it was the most dangerous thing they have ever seen, and some will think it was funny. In the end, we will not change anyone's minds but please read with entertainment in mind.

 

It would be interesting to see if someone did an in depth calculation on the PIP threads about that. I wonder how much more their electric bills were.

 

This thread is making me so defensive argh . I need to do what I did on other threads HIJACK I wonder what the blog lingo is for hijacking your own thread, or changing the topic. (See what I did there )