used to be in the army. did my paratrooper jump out of a c-130 (big ass airplane), didn't land properly, shattered my right shin into 16 pieces. the paramedics get there and say "we've got good news and bad news. good news, you didn't tear any ligaments, you'll be walking in 3 months. bad news, we have to set the bone (put it back where it belongs, as opposed to protruding from the skin as it now was) before we can mobilize you. oh, and we don't carry morphine taps anymore. no anesthetic, no warning, just cracking the two bones back into my leg and hauling me off. they get me doped up and fix my leg. I've still got a chunk of bone or two floating around my shin. grosses the fuck out of people when I push it around. makes me limp sometimes on bad days. I've got a really high tolerance to pain, really high, I've walked off a fractured 4th metatarsal just fine, this was insane.
lessons learned:
1. don't jump out of a perfectly good airplane at 30k feet, it sucks.
2. if you don't follow lesson 1, bend your fuckin' knees
3. don't joint the army