My Pain For Your Amusement

murphda2

Super Moderator and KD Blade Show Boss
It has been one of those days!

I've been training a group for the past three days and today I was the "Pyro Guy". As such, I hide and detonate the pyro during scenarios. On one scenario today I picked a good spot behind a berm along the route just out of view of the training unit and waited. The unit began to pass by and at just the right time, "BOOM!" followed by smoke and small arms fire. Everything on my end was timed perfectly.

I waited a minute and walked out from cover to assess the situation and felt tiny prickling sensations down my legs. I just thought I had hit some sticker bushes on my way to the hide. Oh well, the rest of the day will suck. I was wrong!!!

When I looked down at my legs, the were hundreds of ants moving North! I looked at my partner and said fkr him to take over. I then RAN as fast as I could into the wood line to where we had our truck hidden and threw my body armor and helmet. I began swiping the ants from my pants legs, but these were no normal ants. These guys must have been observing our tactics and learning our SOPs, because they had a well rehearsed attack strategy. There I stood 50 meters from the road (opposite side from my hide) being attacked by a Di ision of ants. I yanked my uniform top from my body and threw it. There went two companies of ants. I was slapping and swatting furiously and loosing.

Next came my t-shirt. The tan t-shirt was damn near black with ants. (I'm still swatting my legs). Seeing that the ants were starting to win the battle, I had to drop the trousers. Oh $&!-, another wave!!!

At this time, I had ants crawling both inside and outside of my trousers, up my legs, all over my back, my hands, and my arms. I had to call for reinforcements. My buddy came over and asked what was wrong and seen that I was at WAR. He swiped the ants from my back and then lowered the tailgate of the pick up. I untied my boots, threw off my trousers, and jumped on to the tail gate and began ripping my socks from my feet.

There I stood in nothing but my boxers (good thing I didn't go "commando", huh?), dancing around on the tailgate like a lunatic swatting and swipping ants. Five minutes later, the battle was over. But, as with war, there are skirmishes which continue. Piece by piece I had to rid my uniform of my attackers (it took dang near an hour and multiple more bites to finish).

I guess it is a good thing I didn't have an allergic reaction (but I still feel as though they are crawling on me.
 
hopefully they weren't fire ants! I know about the feeling of bugs I scatch and search all day after finding a deer tick on me (had lymes twice) have a good weekend H
 
Sounds like the fire ants we have here in Texas. They go nuts when you get in their territory. After 24 hours each bite turns into a little pimple. If you wash with Listerine, you can avoid the pimples.

Funny story but probably not a funny experience until about a year from now.
 
With me it was a small attack force specializing in causing the most pain possible...you guessed it right there ...so I know the clothing removal dance well!!! Could not walk normal for days!!!
 
Sorry to hear about your ambush, Murph. Thank God you weren't allergic to those little demons. I would take some of that pyro back to where you were mercilessly attacked and thank them properly.
 
I wanted to Denny. I had over a dozen arti and grenade sims left, butwe are under a burn ban and can't detonate sims in the woodline.
 
Murph I can feel your pain. Been there, done that! Years ago I use to do construction and I run around all summer at work in nothing but shorts and work boots. Talk about a copper tone tan! Anyways my father in law and I had gone fishing for some catfish in a neighbors pond one Saturday and during the day it was extremely hot and we had had no luck.

I told him the wife had put out some chicken to thaw and it was bad but I hadn't thrown it away yet. I ought to make some good catfish bait I will just put it in the sun for the rest of today and we will come back after dark! :what!:

So my wife and his wife both deside to come with us and then here comes the neighbor and his wife to see if we are going to have any luck.

Well I had just put on a piece of that rancid chicken on my line and gone to wash my hands in the edge of the pond. Now mind you we are fishing entirely by moon light. So I picks a spot a ploops my butt down to wait on a good bite. :biggrin: Well I got one I realized I had sit right in a fire ant bed, and beating on them was a futile effort.......

Well I hollered out I hope none of you is bashful and proceded to come out of the shorts and what was underneath of them. Well a long story short everyone got a good laugh at my expense and we didn't so much as get a bite from the catfish!!:9:

My mother in law used to love to tell this story and she would laugh like crazy!!!!:what!:
 
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On Saturday, I was the "T/M" (Trainer/Mentor) monitoring the rear of the convy's operations and my buddy who was with me the day before was once again taking care of "Pyro". Long story short, we conducted a training scenario in the same location where I was attacked by the ants. My buddy took up a hide position in the same area where I had been attacked but was smart enough to investigate the area thoroughly and found nothing.

There he stood waiting for the training unit to come down the road when he looked down to find his foot being attacked. The others present claim he screamed like a little girl and began dancing a jig. I'f love to crack jokes about it, but.....I was obviously in the same spot the day prior, only 10 times worse.
 
Hey Murph, I'm glad to hear that your encounter wasn't any worse than it was.

This may sound a little strange but I assure you it works. When you or anyone else for that matter gets stung by fire ants, bees, wasps, or any other critter like that, apply some chlorine bleach to the bite/sting site. Use it like you would iodine or merthiolate. Just a couple of drops will do.

Some folks don't believe me when I tell them this but on a recent trip to San Antonio, my wife was stung by a scorpion and a little bleach saved a trip to the ER. It hurt like a son-of-a-gun for a couple of days but aside from a little swelling, everything turned out well.

A four to six ounce bottle of Clorox in a gear bag while in the field can save a lot of grief.

Just an idea for your consideration,
Carey
 
Thank you Carey, I'll keep that in mind. I know that techniques works extremely well for chiggers.
 
For bee and wasp stings just take an aspirin mash it up with a couple drops of water and smear it on the sting site. It instantly kills the pain. I don't know if it works for fire ants or scorpions we don't have them up here in the frozen north.

ernie
balchknives.squarespace.com
 
I know the deal.
Similar experience with fire ants while fishing.
Hint: Jumping into the lake doesn't work very well
 
Ooooh, I am sorry to hear about your War!! Ouchy!!! The visuals I got from reading the initial thread......... I darn near spit water all over my laptop!!
 
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