BF2S Forums Have you totally changed someones life? For better or worse?

Heavy_Guns_91 wrote:

After talking to a friend I've known for a while now, I found out how much of an impact I actually made on her life. I figure it could be considered D&ST material...

So I met her a while ago through through someone else, got to know her, she moved to a different city a decent distance away... We then could pretty much just talk over MSN as it was the easiest way (voice chat > long distance phone bill). One day, I noticed she didn't sound too happy. I figured it was fine, right? She was probably just having a bad day. This happened a couple times more though.
All of the sudden one day, she starts typing that she's crying, that things are starting to get really bad... That she's just having huge troubles with everything. I spend a few hours talking to her, asking her what exactly was going on, asking if there was something I could do to help cheer her up...
She then started to scare me... She told me that she had seriously thought about committing suicide. Scared the shit out of me, right?
She told me that the only reason why she hadn't though, was simply because of me. She said that talking to me was the thing she looked forward to most, to get away from what was happening. I found it pretty damn heavy...

Slowly, we got back to the point where she was herself again, and wondering why she would've ever even think of going so far as suicide.
She has a boyfriend now, she's really happy, and she's moved on. We still talk to each other once in a while, but not quite as much as before.

What happened to me ended happy at least. I never figured I could help someone in such a way.

I don't think you guys would actually talk about how you changed someones life for worse... But surely you'd share a positive one.

I'm glad that you helped her and it's great that she found someone... Else that is.  I doubt you would want to deal with someone so emotionally draining all the time.  Shit man, she said she lived for you and now has another guy?  Ok then....

I got married and have a kid.  I'd say I've effected a few lives thus far and helped make a new one.  Pretty cool.

Oh yea, my buddies egged this guys house after being friends with him every day for like a year and a half.  My friends were merciless. He always thought it was me (I lived like 3 houses down) and he had a really sad Senior year.  I think he still lives with his parents.  I wonder if I'm on some sort of creepy "hit list".

I always think about my one "war story" that I have for the Iraq invasion.

My unit was stationed in Turkey on the Iraq border (at about the point where Syria/Turkey/Iraq meet).  We were actually about 800m from Syria, 6km from Iraq.  Anyways, it was Eastern Turkey, Kurd land.  Our idiot S-2 informed everyone that the Kurds were terrorists and were out to get us.  3 days before the invasion, one of my guys, a PFC ("Sparky", his real name was similar), and I were pulling perimeter security at our little outpost at about 2 am.  Both of us were 249 gunners.  About 2am a Kurdish shepherd with his whole flock, not paying attention, wandered his herd within 150m of our position.  Sparky locked and loaded right next to me without saying a word.  I was like "WTF? Dude, I told you to chill," (we'd been watching this guy wandering slowly closer for the last hour) and he didn't say anything.  Then I looked over at him in the dark.  His eyes were glassed over, and then he started mumbling something about the sheep being a cover for bombs...and then he took aim.

I tackled him just in time.  Gun didn't go off luckily.  I never did a report, I don't think anyone would have taken it seriously anyways.  The shepherd had no idea what was going on behind the burm, probably didn't know we were there, and wandered back away without a care in the world.  When we re-deployed a 2 weeks later Sparky locked and loaded again on the bus in another fit of paranoia (saying later he thought we would be bombed as we were leaving, with nobody in sight), this time our resident SF guru/re-enlistment NCO choke slammed him in the back of the bus.  The dude had issues though, apparently he was let into the army after 9/11 when he burned down his highschool, killing a fireman, and his record was expunged when he turned 18.  The kid had no business in the Army, let alone with a loaded 249 in friendly territory.

So, if I effected anyone, some Kurdish kids in Eastern Turkey still have a dad tonight.  The weeks prior to that I did a lot of "fun" things to help out "US foreign policy issues" in Turkey, 42 more years before I can provide details though.  This, however, was the highlight of my "combat experience" though, dive tackling my own subordinate so he wouldn't waste a bunch of sheep.

yes.  I bought a girl INTO hooking

Last edited by GunSlinger OIF II (2008-03-25 07:09:39)

I saved someone's life once, snatched him out of the way of a rather large truck.  But changed someone's life?  Hmmm ... I have a friend who is suicidal and I make myself available whenever he needs to talk.  I hope that my efforts will have a positive effect.

Heavy_Guns_91 wrote:

After talking to a friend I've known for a while now, I found out how much of an impact I actually made on her life. I figure it could be considered D&ST material...

So I met her a while ago through through someone else, got to know her, she moved to a different city a decent distance away... We then could pretty much just talk over MSN as it was the easiest way (voice chat > long distance phone bill). One day, I noticed she didn't sound too happy. I figured it was fine, right? She was probably just having a bad day. This happened a couple times more though.
All of the sudden one day, she starts typing that she's crying, that things are starting to get really bad... That she's just having huge troubles with everything. I spend a few hours talking to her, asking her what exactly was going on, asking if there was something I could do to help cheer her up...
She then started to scare me... She told me that she had seriously thought about committing suicide. Scared the shit out of me, right?
She told me that the only reason why she hadn't though, was simply because of me. She said that talking to me was the thing she looked forward to most, to get away from what was happening. I found it pretty damn heavy...

Slowly, we got back to the point where she was herself again, and wondering why she would've ever even think of going so far as suicide.
She has a boyfriend now, she's really happy, and she's moved on. We still talk to each other once in a while, but not quite as much as before.

What happened to me ended happy at least. I never figured I could help someone in such a way.

I don't think you guys would actually talk about how you changed someones life for worse... But surely you'd share a positive one.

If you google the name of jason lundstrom and click on the link that syas " ace installer " you will find a guy who I helped kick speed. He was in it bad, smoking it and such. I basically beat him into submission and didn't fire him after months of him blowing it.

He now helps manage my crappy little company.

I have fucked many people over in my day

kept a friend from suicide, gave my mom cpr when she stopped breathing. past that no

Making sure my brother doesn't get lazy with school (he's a great student and I want him to stay that way).
Nothing fancy that I remember.

The army/marine people have propably made big changes in many enemies lives