Why yes, yes I have. It just so happens that I took a beat down when I was 26 years old. The beater was my husband at the time. It pissed me off so damn bad, that I drove into our little town the next day and marched straight into the marine recruiter's office.
There were three huge marines standing there and when I said I wanted to enlist, they all started talking loud and fast and it scared the shit outta me lol. I told them I changed my mind and left. Two doors down was the Army recruiter's office and in I went.
One army sergeant, not scary at all. What possessed me to go to that extreme? One thing, and one thing only. I was going to learn to fight. Not cat scratching, hair pulling, teeth biting fighting. I wanted to learn how to think while I was fighting, to fight smart and in multiple ways. To be able to stand up for myself.
Being married at the time, papers had to be signed that it was agreed to by both parties. The husband signed, I packed a bag and left to take a room in town until the day came to hit the MEPS station. From there it was a short wait before heading off to basic training.
My initial induction photo
Eight weeks of intense physical training interspersed with weapons and ordinance training and hand to hand combat left me feeling more in control of my body and more capable of defending myself.
We were issued M16s and trained with them religiously. We had one night only of low crawling under live fire so I'm not sure that qualifies as getting fired at, but I did a shit ton of firing myself. Toward the end of basic, we trained with the pugil stick and I really loved that lol. I was older than all of the other girls and when I put my war face on and started yelling, they would scatter like flies.
Waiting on inspection - shitty photograph and shitty hair lol
Being classified as combat medics we were to be attached to the First Infantry Division and so were also instructed in using LAW rockets, grenades and claymore mines.
At the end of those eight weeks, my body and my mind were fundamentally changed and that training has served me well all of these years since. I have not had to fight, and I'm glad because that was so long ago, I'd make a pretty poor showing lol.
Dressed and heading out to basic training graduation ceremonies. Yep, my name then was McSparin, thanks to the aforementioned husband. We were divorced by the time I got to my permanent duty station.
Thanks to @galenkp for the opportunity to post in his community and thanks to @krazzytrukker for the topic prompt