I have faced immediate death twice. Once with knowledge and once without.

The first was as a Corporal in Afghanistan. Some jackball decided to launch chinese-made surface-to-surface missles at the U.S. embassy in Kabul where I was deployed back in early '02. The alarms went off and we all went to our "battlestations". I paced the hallway, but I was ready to die and ready to kill. Others were not, and it showed in their eyes. Perhaps I was ignorant, perhaps I was bold; I will never know. Because they never came. The missles were the end of it. No invasion, no assault, nothing futher. The missles blew up in front of us and behind us.

The second was as a Sergeant doing routine police work. I was setting up traffic cones along a rainswept highway when I stopped in-place for no reason. I literally stopped moving for no reason that I can explain. And instantly less than 6 inches from the tip of my nose passed a large delivery truck at 60 mph. It was that quick. Stop, swoosh. To this day I cannot explain why I stopped, because I fully intended on walking forward.

On reflection, the second scares me more. Death at a time and place I can neither predict nor control. No bravery. No heroics. Just over. And a wife and family to continue on without me...