Do you Panic?

[Jeff-Groves]

Why do some people panic? I've never understood why some do and some don't. Me? I never panic. Even when I had 3 fingers ripped from my hand? I instructed the people around me on how to handle the situation. Then did my own first aid and instructed them to get me to the Hospital. At a stop light? Had to tell the driver to run the damned thing!
MY quick reactions and calm mind allowed me to keep the fingers and they work perfectly today! Well. Almost perfectly.

On one of my jumps from an aircraft as a ParaTrooper? I ended up entangled with another Trooper. I had to slap him in the face and instruct him on how We would land. We both walked away.

So I've been in some bad situations and those are just 2 out of MANY over the years. I'm immune to the Panic Syndrome I guess.

In every case of an immediate, unexpected situation I have found myself in? My mind goes into a calm, instant reaction phase.
I can, and have, evaluated and reacted with a precision that amazes me! Almost as if I was disconnected from said events and I'm looking from the outside in. Time slows down or my mind speeds up allowing me to handle things in a calm, calculated manner. Even pain is a distant thing that almost does not register as normal people would register said pain.

Had a small thing happen today. I was burning off dead grasses and a couple bushes started up in flames.
Wife and StepSon FREAKED out as I got the hose to put the fire down. The looks on their faces had me nearly rolling on the ground laughing!
Needless to say Wife is NOT to happy with me at the moment!


I'm tempted to put the bushes on fire again just to see their faces again!

[mapuc]

I have never come into a panic situation-not yet that is.

Hope I would stay as calm as you did if it should happen something around me or to me.

It can also be the surroundings that may trigger a panic reaction.

Markus

[Jeff-Groves]

Did you run out and buy toilet paper in the lock down?
You paniced. Same with water and so on.

I'm talking about the event that happens in a split second right before your eyes.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Did you run out and buy toilet paper in the lock down?
You paniced. Same with water and so on.

No I did not run out to buy a toilet paper, I had enough and when I had to buy it was enough of it.

It has happened a few times when there wasn't any water available-well then I drank micro wave heated old coffee- And I clean myself when water return and make fresh coffee.

Edit
Reading your last line. No have never come in such situations that would trigger a panic reaction-Not yet.
End edit

Markus

[ET2SN]

"Panic" can be a relative term.

When the poop really does hit the fan, you at least want the old Adrenalin to kick in instead of locking up and going to your happy place.

I found out the hard way what good training can do when we had our bad accident on the Barbel. None of us, me included, panicked and shut down.
Instead, we went into @$$holes And Elbows Mode and fought the causality and managed to save the boat (with a three second margin between getting home and becoming a memorial in a park), although we did lose two of our guys.

That was about as close as I want to get to buying the farm.
What was odd for me was that I blacked out the bad stuff right after it happened. I didn't even know I blocked it out until we had the accident investigation. Luckily, no bad dreams or flashbacks since it happened.

[Jeff-Groves]

Mate.
I'm sorry for your moment and loss on USS Barbel.
But you said some of the truth about training. Best part was A&E.
Training does kick in given the moment and past training.
I still think some people can handle that instance and some can't. Training or not.

[Gorpet]

Panic: Here's panic, I was on an early morning A/C call for no cooling.I had stopped and got a drive thru of biscuits and gravy at a well known local owned franchises.45 min later 5 blocks from the homeowners house i felt a fart.But it was not... and i was on a panic ride to find a portalet in the new construction area.Where my underwear found a new home, and i was lucky there was 2 rolls of paper. I was only 10 min late for my service call. But the experience of that moment and the personal panic of that fart is a moment in time i will never forget. That was my first and last experience of panic.

[Aktungbby]

I only panic when Gorpet posts his lunacy in the forum!??

[Gorpet]

I only panic when Gorpet posts his lunacy in the forum!??

Tks.

[Oubaas]

No. I don't remember ever panicking about anything, even as a kid. And if I ever did harbor the tendency, my military career certainly extinguished it.

I can remember standing there calmly talking to people with my own meat hanging out, taking care of business before allowing them to provide me with medical treatment.

I remember grabbing people under water, calming them down, and untangling their gear for them. And pulling people out of riptides in (which I was playing zoom and laughing silently) while they were panicking and trying to drown themselves.

I can also recall taking care of matters at hand while everyone else was literally curled up in the fetal position on the ground and all hell was breaking loose around us. I was sure that I was going to die that day. But I didn't.

I stay calm even in the most dire circumstances, and tend to take charge, give orders, and correct whatever is amiss. But that's what was expected of me during my military career. I was just doing my duty. My wife thinks it's very strange that I stay so calm while everyone is freaking out, but she's glad that I'm like that.

Of course, I don't do much of that sort of thing these days. Now I'm just an old retired guy, enjoying what I want to do, instead of that sort of thing. And that suits me just fine.

[Commander Wallace]

The military service of a number of our Subsim respondents in this thread is certainly a factor in not panicking under stressful circumstances. To that, I would only add that It's also a matter of character as well. Various military branches create psychological profiles of it's service members and do various testing of it's members with regards to creating artificial elements of stressful conditions to see how it's members respond. It's basically part of a vetting process. This is true of it's Special Forces, Aircraft and Submarine operations among many others specialties.

In teaching motorcycle safety to new riders, I have seen this as well. No one can predict what dangers a new rider will face or even those riders who have been riding motorcycles a long time. As part of the curriculum, I routinely stress looking and visually scanning ahead for hidden dangers. I have told them assume cars don't see you and Will pull out in front of you in your lane of travel. Using external lighting and wearing bright colors so you are noticed and seen can minimize those dangers. It's the little things that can reduce stress and give those individuals a nice, pleasant ride.

As in martial arts, once an individual has " muscle memory, " they can move fast with little stimuli. Training makes all the difference. If you look at the events of Apollo 13 where the the service module was dangerously compromised by oxygen canisters exploding and the 3 astronauts very lives were in serious jeopardy. This is an example of days of stressful conditions with very little if any sleep.

Working together and the military way of breaking a large problem into small pieces certainly saved the day along with some luck in bringing those astronauts home. Certainly their respective intelligence and training and the way they all handled stress played a role in bringing them home safely.

[Gorpet]

Sorry Jeff, I know,The panic and fear you want to know about is being pissed off at another human being doing their job that forces you to become savage in a moment's' time.And it turns into acceptance. Now years later, When you give your first born the keys to their first car that's in your name. And you get a phone call hey dad i have a flat and i pulled the car into a ditch to get it off the road.Panic,one more time old man...

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Jeff-Groves

Why do some people panic?....

For all matter of things that will make no sense to others.

I spent an hour as a hold up hostage decades ago, and learned I didn't panic in those situations. I now panic when remembering about some of the stupid climbing I did when I was younger.