Close calls.
More than I care to remember, but I will share a few.
Was in Iraq this past year and had several good ones.
Coming back from Tal Afar we had a civilian vehicle weaving in and out of our convoy. After several shouts and honks we determined he was a threat and the gunner on our Humvee put about 20 rounds of BMG in his hood and engine.
He responded by detonating the car bomb he had been trucking about. Blew two doors off the Humvee. Put the driver and gunner in critical condition, broke my hand and wrist. (Still waiting for my Purple Heart on that one, by the by
)
Going through Mosul we somehow ran into another convoy and our bright eyes battalion commander decides it would be cool to link up. We made a ripe target with 93 (that's right, 93) vehicles. The fire-fight lasted about forty minutes and netted me two broken fingers and some window shrapnel. Y'all may have seen that one on the news.
This one may be more on topic:
Was at the local mall a few months ago. December, I think. Suspicious looking group of teenagers makes a beeline toward my truck. I have a wife who at that time is eight months pregnant. I tried to leave quickly to avoid the situation completely, but wasn't fast enough. I didn't even wait to see what they wanted. As soon as I heard "hey, dude" I drew primary and backup.
In retrospect, I was probably wrong to do so without a better grasp of the situation. It did turn out later on that they were caught with some shoplifted goodies, but that may have been nothing to me. But hindsight is always 20/20, right?
I hope that, aside from my upcoming return to the big beach with no ocean, I never have to point a gun at another person ever again. Not afraid to, and not unwilling. Just don't like it.