Originally Posted By wandering_daisy
Some really tough outdoors people can be whiners in other venues- the guy who faints during his wife's childbirth.


Ah yest! How about a training film (quite graphic about emergency childbirth) given in what was essentially a basic training course for park rangers? We were cautioned that if we felt like tossing our cookies to leave the room and do so quietly outside. A couple did leave, and I just barely hung on.... Later, when I was attending the birth of my children, it was a totally different situation and I managed quite fine.

Which brings me to my best friend, with whom I have hiked and SARed for many years, a gentleman who is an absolute rock of incredible endurance, tenacity,and stamina, as tough a dude as I know (he comes from a Texas ranching family in LBJ country). Not only did he faint during the birth of his son, as he fell he overturned the gurney!

I suspect we all have our vulnerabilities; some of us are lucky and never have to face them.

Frankly, I have been on operations where I cried, after the action was completed or when there was a break. I am not the least ashamed of this. For one thing, they were pretty brutal. I think that releasing your emotions helps you reorganize and continue on.