My Phobia of heights, or Say No To Rope Bridges

[momsalittleoff]

I have a knee shaking experience every time I have to look down from height of over 6 feet.

I wasn't always afraid of heights. I remember being "Brave girl" when I was a kid. I would climb the cherry and apple trees in my yard and get so high that the branches would start to sway with my weight. Even after getting my foot wedged between branches and having to have my poor mom come out and climb the tree to save me.

I loved going up in tall buildings with my family so I could "prove" my courage in the face of my older brother's terror. The Space Needle was my favorite! I would strut past my brother who was hugging the wall, as far from the edge as he could get, and go to the edge (this was before they put up a safety screen around it) and lean over looking at the ant like people so far below.

My turning point was when I was in the army. Our platoon leader, Sgt. Everly, had gotten back from a training trip to France and was eager to teach his platoon all the wonderful things he had learned. Unfortunately for me, one of those things was "how to make and cross a rope bridge". He picked a nasty little gorge  to stage our training, in the forest near our company headquarters. First he had one of the guys on the other side of the gorge tie a rope to a tree on the opposite side and throw the rest to him, which he tied to a tree on our side. He demonstrated how to lie on top of the rope with one leg bent and the foot hooked over the rope. Then he quickly pulled himself to the other side and back with bravado that I didn't share. He made it known that we didn't have to go across if we didn't want to. I didn't want to.

Then he let the rest of us "chickens" know that since we refused to go across the more difficult rope bridge, we were required to go across the next version.

He tossed another rope across and anchored it to the tree about 4 feet above the original one. The idea of this, bridge, was to hold the top rope with the hands and slide your feet across while simutaiously sliding your hands. Being the only female in the unit, he chose me as the first demonstrator (I think he figured the others would decide they couldn't be outdone by a girl, I don't know...) and under protest, I climbed up on the rope bridge. I have to say, that by looking at my hands and not concentrating on my feet, I made it over 3/4ths of the way across. Then I made the mistake of looking down to check the placement of my feet. By that time the ropes were swaying pretty good. I got a wonderful view of the bottom of the rocky gorge, swaying back and forth, and froze where I was. Even though my heart was pounding and I was shaking uncontrollably, I somehow came to the realization that I had to continue in order to get out of the horrible situation I was stuck in. I managed to make my legs and arms move in spite of my stiffness and shaking and got near enough to the other side for the guys on that end to grab me and pull me to safety.

The only real satisfaction I got was that several of the guys on the side with Sgt. Everly turned and, without saying a word, went back to the jeeps, preferring to be called chicken than to repeat my display of terror, themselves.

From that time forward, I have always had a very healthy fear of heights.

[armyqtsmom]

Nov. 20, 2007 at 12:17 PM I love your story....simply amazing what one must go through sometimes....I have a small fear of heights. But now I am going to have to think about any phobias I have....hmmmmm. I will let you know.