Rowan,

Your post reminded me of a story a Vietnam Vet told me back when we were in college together. Not funny at all, but one of those moments so tragic and arbitrary that we tend to laugh in reaction to the shock.

They were going out on heliocopter patrol, still at a high altitude in transit to the area they were to surveil. The guys were chatting, relaxed (as relaxed as one can be in those circumstances, and shouting over the din of the blades and motor.) One of the gunners was casually standing right at the open side of the copter, facing in, when the copter hit an air pocket and jogged down and sideways. Suddenly the gunner was standing on thin air, just outside the chopper, looking in at his mates. He stared at them and they stared back for a few heartbeats. He said, "Oh Shit", then plummetted out of sight to his death.