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"...what is all this shoulda coulda or woulda? It did not happen, and all is good. Give this guy his due.

"What if...", is a valid argument. It allows you to think through all ramification of your action.

We all do it all of the time, if I do this, what is going to happen. It is usually when we do not think of the various "what if" when we get our self in trouble.

All in all CJ got lucky this morning. He did something stupid, and he was not aware of just how stupid it was until he posted it on this forum.

One of the great thing about this forum, is you have a wide and deep cross section of people from different age groups, training, background, and so on. If I ever had a serious problem, I would want advise from this group.

CJ has gotten some good advise this morning. Others, who may one day find themselves in similar condition are also getting good advise.

As a member of the 82nd Airborne you should understand that one purpose of training is for you to learn what to do under certain conditions, when you do not really have time for thinking the “shoulda, coulda or woulda”. I don’t think CJ ever really though about what he would do in this particular situation. Today he was lucky, but some of us are pointing out to him it was more luck then his skills that saved both life both figuratively and literally.

There are so many things that could have gone wrong and at minimum CJ would be facing years of legal problem, or it is possible in this day and age, he could have been killed.

He acted without thinking at a time when it was not required.

I just got through a situation myself, a couple years of wasting time going to court. I was well within my rights ( I caught a poacher on my property) But that doesn't prevent them, and their defense attorneys from trying every maneuver possible to save their own hides and make YOU look in the wrong.

CJ took an unnecessary risk, and could well be in court. Suppose things went wrong and he shot a kid. Don't you think those kids parents would be on the war path to see CJ behind bars? Self defence doesn't work when you have other options, and the plain fact is CJ did have other options. Taking a life is always a last resort. We see how opinion varies on this forum. CJ would be facing a jury however. Bet that that jury will hear very good argument as to why CJ should be behind bars.

Certainly! But, CJ was not given the benefit of hindsight. You know the saying, hindsight is 20/20. That is what I was saying.

I have had to act in a split second on several occasions. I also made some mistakes, and thank God it did not cost me or my buddies their lives, and constructive criticism is important so I don't make that same mistake again.

I always try to remember, that, we have that benefit of hindsight - CJ did not. People will except criticism better if we also look at it from his perspective too.

Thanks for the post